Chapter 758: Connections Are Short, Life Is Long

TL: FoodieMonster007

Ak-hyung, are you kidding me? If you were going to do this, you should've just killed him from the start!

Geom Mugeuk didn't shout these words aloud. He sensed something deeper in the Sword King's blood-drenched figure. A vague premonition had already warned him this might happen.

Why did he protect the Sound King from me?

Even though another member of the Twelve Zodiac Kings was dead, he felt no joy.

The Sword King turned toward him, blood streaming down his face. "Listen carefully to what I'm about to say, Mugeuk," he said with desperate urgency. "The Sound King has completed his final song, and it isn't the sound arts attack he was about to unleash earlier."

Quiet music drifted from somewhere around them. The melody seemed to shift from left to right, growing steadily louder.

The cheerful, exciting tune clashed completely with the Sound King's death. It suggested the fight wasn't over, rather…it was just beginning!

The Sword King's expression showed he'd already expected this. He explained, "The Darkness Palace Lord gave him the Heaven's Will Divine Pill. That thing not some simple elixir, but the one and only supreme elixir of the Heavenly Fate Palace, imbued with the energy of all creation. The Saintess used something she'd cherished and saved for this occasion."

His gaze fell on the fallen Sound King. For someone who'd taken such a thing, he'd died far too easily. Blood poured out and stained his pipa crimson.

"After taking the Heaven's Will Divine Pill, he completed his final song. Once that song was finished, it played around him constantly. We just couldn't hear it."

Geom Mugeuk nodded silently. He guessed the tune the Sound King had been humming all along was that very final song.

The Sword King revealed a shocking secret, saying, "It's the Soul-Switching Song. If you kill him while the Soul-Switching Song plays, his soul switches with whoever killed him."

Finally, Geom Mugeuk understood why the Sword King had desperately tried to stop him from killing the man.

"He intended to die by your hand and take over your body from the very beginning. That was his goal."

"Does that mean he's going to take over your body now, Ak-hyung? You must've killed him because you had a countermeasure, right?"

"……" The Sword King couldn't say he did. There was no countermeasure.

"Why didn't you tell me? If you'd told me through telepathy…"

"And if I had?"

"……" Geom Mugeuk couldn't answer.

"You would've insisted on killing him yourself, right?"

Only four people here were skilled enough to kill him: Geom Mugeuk, the two Demon Supremes, and the Sword King himself. In a situation like this, Geom Mugeuk would never sacrifice someone else.

"You would've killed him, thinking you could overcome it somehow. You probably would've cut him down without hesitation."

Geom Mugeuk sighed. The Sword King saw right through him. He would've trusted himself, trusted the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, and killed him.

"You all overestimate me too much. Why would I cut him down? Especially when I knew the consequences would be so terrifying."

The Sword King shook his head. Geom Mugeuk's words only made it clearer that he certainly would've killed the Sound King. Not only the Sword King, but the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and Flower Sword Supreme knew it too. The Young Cult Leader would've undoubtedly struck him down.

"Even for you, there's no overcoming the Soul-Switching Song."

"Then what about you, Ak-hyung?"

The Sword King's expression was calm, as if he'd already thought everything through. "Before that bastard takes me over, kill me."

"!"

The Sword King had intended to save Geom Mugeuk by sacrificing himself.

He couldn't have killed the Sound King beforehand either. If he had, the man might've pretended to be him, approached Geom Mugeuk, and done who knows what.

The best course was to cut him down in front of Geom Mugeuk and reveal the truth.

The Sword King's gaze shifted to the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and Flower Sword Supreme. "It would've been better if I'd cut him down before you two suffered, but I hesitated. I kept worrying and searching, wondering if there was any other way."

It was a matter of life and death, after all. He truly hadn't wanted to resort to this until the very last moment.

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon, who'd regarded him with displeasure, now had a softened expression. "I understand."

Not just the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, but the Flower Sword Supreme was also inwardly surprised. Being with Geom Mugeuk meant experiencing all sorts of things, but for such a powerful master to sacrifice himself for Geom Mugeuk was completely unexpected.

They'd figured there must be a reason he was protecting a user of sound arts, but they never imagined it would be for this. He'd fought the duel with her with such resolve and endured the misunderstanding of his frustrating actions.

He could've pretended to know nothing and guided them to kill the Sound King instead of Geom Mugeuk, but he didn't push that task onto others. Not even when his life was on the line.

Geom Mugeuk asked the Sword King, "Why are you going this far?"

I've asked myself that question countless times. Do I really have to go this far for Geom Mugeuk?

The Sword King had honestly agonized over it. He'd deliberated an unknowable amount. His connection with Geom Mugeuk was short, and the rest of his own life was endlessly long.

However, he chose to save Geom Mugeuk. He just wanted to, because he was the first and only friend in his life.

However, he gave a second reason, "Because if that man takes over your body, this murim will be annihilated."

If they possessed Geom Mugeuk's identity and everything he'd built, the result would be horrific.

"No, why are you worried about the murim? Were you that kind of person, Ak-hyung? You're someone whose goal is to leave the murim!"

The Sword King smiled bitterly. "You're right. I should've left long ago."

He'd intended to leave, but when he learned the Darkness Palace Lord had used even the Heaven's Will Divine Pill to deal with Geom Mugeuk, he ultimately gave up on leaving.

Although he told Geom Mugeuk to kill him, the Sword King knew.

"I know that you can't kill me."

The Sword King drew his sword. He intended to take his own life.

"Wait! Stop!" Geom Mugeuk shot forward like lightning and grabbed his arm. Of all the times he'd used the Four Strides of the Wind God, this was the fastest.

The Sword King argued. "Just imagine me wielding sound arts as well. Even you won't be able to handle it."

The Sword King and Sound King combined? They would become a truly powerful enemy. Moreover, unable to bring himself to cut the Sword King's throat, Geom Mugeuk might hesitate, and those with him could be sacrificed.

Nevertheless, Geom Mugeuk was certain.

"Don't worry, I can handle it."

"You can't!"

Geom Mugeuk lost his temper. Staring at the Sword King with blazing eyes, he roared, "I said I can, you bastard! I can handle it! So don't be hasty, damn it!" Calming his rampaging emotions, he softened his tone. "If this is your choice, Ak-hyung, then you have to give me a chance to choose too. If you take your own life in front of me, I will regret this moment for the rest of my life."

"……" The Sword King's gaze wavered.

"Even if that bastard takes you over, I'll definitely turn you back to normal. If your soul falls into hell, I'll go to hell itself to bring it back."

The Sword King sighed. Yes, it's because Geom Mugeuk is this kind of person that I made such a choice. I have no regrets.

"Trust me. If I feel like it's absolutely impossible, then I'll kill you with my own hands. Die by my hand then."

The Sword King didn't believe Geom Mugeuk. His gaze went past the Young Cult Leader's shoulder to the Flower Sword Supreme.

If a situation arises later where I must be killed, you must be the one to kill me.

The Flower Sword Supreme could read the desperate plea in his eyes, so she nodded silently.

Geom Mugeuk stared at the Sword King seriously. "But something's suspicious. You… you're not my Ak-hyung, are you?"

The Sword King stared blankly at Geom Mugeuk. What kind of joke are you trying to pull in this situation?

"You've already taken over our Ak-hyung, haven't you? After all this time, there's no way he'd still be the same, right?"

Come to think of it, a fair amount of time had passed while the Sword King was explaining.

As everyone's eyes focused on him, the Sword King became flustered. "No, I'm still me."

He'd expected a process, sensing the bastard invading as a soul and himself struggling to block it.

Can I suddenly become someone else without realizing it? Will the change happen the moment the music that is still playing ends?

Geom Mugeuk asked, "Ak-hyung, where did we first meet?"

"……" The Sword King shook his head with a look of disbelief.

"Seeing as you're not answering, you must still be Ak-hyung. Everyone ignores me and pretends not to hear when I ask questions like that."

The Sword King glanced at the Sound King's corpse again. Did something really go wrong?

"He probably won't enter your body, Ak-hyung," Geom Mugeuk said unexpectedly.

"I wish that were the case, but my willpower isn't enough to block his sound arts, which was perfected with the Heaven's Will Divine Pill."

"No, that's not what I mean," Geom Mugeuk explained. "I just don't think taking over my body is the real goal."

"What?"

Not just the Sword King, but everyone else listened intently to Geom Mugeuk's words.

"I've been thinking about it the whole time. Why is Ak-hyung acting like this? The first thought I had was, could it be that if you kill that man, the killer dies with him? Is some kind of cursed song playing? I made that kind of guess."

However, that wasn't it. Geom Mugeuk knew the enemies' goal wasn't to kill him, but to steal the energy in his body.

"I also considered the current situation. Could it be that the souls would switch? But I quickly discarded that guess too."

"……"

"Because of you, Ak-hyung."

"?" The Sword King tilted his head in confusion.

"If that were the case, why did they send you? That person you called Saintess knows that we parted last time without killing each other, doesn't she?"

"I told her I couldn't kill you because I had to retrieve the Secret Box," the Sword King argued.

"Do you really think the Saintess believed that?" Geom Mugeuk retorted, grinning as if he'd figured everything out. "They've staked everything on this scheme. If I were the Darkness Palace Lord, I wouldn't have chosen a course of action with even the slightest risk."

"Then what do you think their aim is?"

SWISH!

Instead of answering, Geom Mugeuk swung his sword at the man in the iron mask. "You tell me."

CLANG!

A single line scored from the iron mask's forehead to its chin, but surprisingly, Geom Mugeuk's sword qi only etched a line on the surface. The iron mask wasn't cut.

A voice came from beneath the iron mask. "To finally show interest in me now. I'm disappointed, Young Cult Leader."

It was a different voice from the powerful and bright one that had led the martial artists earlier. The heavy qi he exuded also didn't match how he'd dodged to avoid dying in the previous battle.

He slowly removed the iron mask, revealing a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance so plain that any appearance would seem to suit him.

Geom Mugeuk knew who he was. The Eleventh King of the Twelve Zodiac Kings, the Iron King Gi Sahu. Shockingly, another of the Twelve Zodiac Kings was in this place.

The Iron King was a figure who fought using all sorts of tools. He mainly handled things made of iron, mixing it with other metals to create a metal as strong as Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron.

He was a genius maker of mechanisms who killed people using all kinds of hidden weapons and bizarre devices never before seen in the murim. Martial artists called him the Ruler of Iron.

With the last of the Twelve Zodiac Kings revealing himself, Geom Mugeuk would finally meet all of them.

"I thought you would've figured it out a little sooner, Young Cult Leader."

The Iron King was smiling. He wasn't nervous or flustered at all, even though his identity had been exposed.

Geom Mugeuk sighed. He should've noticed the man's presence earlier, but he hadn't known at the time. The Iron King was exceptionally skilled at concealing his qi, and he was closer to an artisan than a pure martial artist. A terrifying artisan who could easily kill masters, of course.

He had been distracted by the Sword King, Blade King and Sound King. He never imagined that four of the Twelve Zodiac Kings would be in one place.

Only a moment ago had a thought had suddenly occurred to him. If they'd truly staked everything on this, would they have just left the last living member of the Zodiac out?

"So it's you. The one who'll wrap up this mess."

The Iron King nodded and listened to the music flowing around them. "This song, isn't it pleasant to listen to?" His gaze turned to the Sword King. "The Saintess already knew you would betray her."

Geom Mugeuk said to the Sword King, "It's because you walk around barefoot. You go around looking like you're ready to leave at any moment! Who would trust you?"

The Sword King had mixed feelings. He was glad to be alive, but a much larger conspiracy was unfolding.

A new truth was revealed through the Iron King.

"This song isn't the Soul-Switching Song, but the Soul-Returning Song."

The Soul-Returning Song? That meant to return a soul.

"It's a song that was complete, yet not complete."

Starting with that cryptic remark, the Iron King's mouth revealed an astonishing fact. "The Soul-Returning Song is finally completed with the death of the performer. In other words, it's a song that can only be played to completion once. So listen well. You'll never be able to hear it again."

The music flowing around them was exciting yet dreamlike, cheerful yet eerie.

"To summon a soul, wouldn't the sacrifice of the living be necessary? The performer's sacrifice is needed, and the one who kills the performer must also be someone sacrificing themselves for another. It's by offering that desperate heart that a soul from the other world is summoned."

"!"

It meant the song was completed by combining two things: the Sound King's death and the Sword King's sacrifice.

"The higher the quality of the ones being sacrificed, and the purer their hearts, the more souls can be summoned."

Geom Mugeuk looked at the Sword King with worried eyes. This was a man whose quality was far too high. "Who on earth are you trying to summon?"

The music reached its climax and stopped for a moment.

"……"

Hearing a sound from behind, Geom Mugeuk slowly turned around. He looked at a puppet standing far in the distance. A metallic sound rang out as the puppet moved.

SWOOSH!

The puppet slowly turned its head to look this way. It was the Brawling King.

Its eyes seemed to flash once before changing to look like real, living eyes. Upon spotting Geom Mugeuk, it began to radiate killing intent.

"Young Cult Leader!"

From that blazing gaze, Geom Mugeuk could instinctively tell. The real Brawling King's soul had entered that puppet.

"It seems Ak-hyung liked me a little too much."

The Brawling King wasn't the only one that began to move.

DRIP, DRIP…

The blood that had been floating in the air fell, and red energy began to flow from the Blood King's two eyes.

SLITHER…

The wooden stems flowing from the Wood King's body began to squirm, and ghostly sounds started to come from the gate the Illusion King had opened in the air.

A crack of bones came from the Fist King's clenched fist.

The door of the carriage the Queen of Darkness was in opened slightly, a dark gaze glittering from within.

The Death King, who'd been floating in the air, landed lightly on the ground.

The sun and moon on the Blade King's black dao and red dao, which had been set up last, began to shine again.

Amidst the grand and cheerful music that resounded once more, all the puppets of the Twelve Zodiac King turned their heads toward Geom Mugeuk.