Chapter 830: Why Aren't You Being Pushed Back in a Battle of Inner Qi?

TL: FoodieMonster007

Hwa Mugi lifted the cup Geom Mugeuk had poured for him. "I can hear them screaming inside my heart to let them out. I feel extreme anger and desperate sorrow. They have never revealed their emotions to this extent before."

He drank the wine. In the end, it was Hwa Mugi, who had sworn never to drink, who emptied the cup today, not the souls.

"I didn't drink this wine because of you. I drank it for them."

It was a moment that showed they were beings of great significance to him in some way, just as Geom Mugeuk had said earlier.

He put down the cup and asked, "You could have attacked while I was drinking. Why didn't you?"

He expected an answer like 'You were prepared for it, weren't you?' or 'That wouldn't be cool, would it?', but…

"Everyone is watching, aren't they?" Geom Mugeuk answered, looking at the people around him.

His father, the Chairmans, the Demon Supremes, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, and even the Sword King. Naturally, they were watching him and Hwa Mugi without looking away for even a moment.

"I may look like I do whatever I want, but I'm incredibly conscious of how people see me. You have no idea how hard I try to look cool to others."

Hwa Mugi let out a hollow laugh. He didn't know it would be for such a reason. No, even if that was the reason, to say it so honestly was unexpected.

He revealed his thoughts for the first time, saying, "Actually, I didn't have any particular thoughts about this murim at first. After meeting you, though, it suddenly became interesting," he admitted sincerely. "If it is a murim with people like you…"

Geom Mugeuk smiled. "I'm sorry for raising your expectations too high from the start. Still, look around carefully after you kill me. There are many interesting things and interesting people here and there. Don't get your fun from killing people. Feeling superior by bullying those weaker than you is the lowest of the low."

"You're trying to lecture me again. You asked to fight, yet you keep spouting useless words."

Of course, he was the one who started the current conversation, but Geom Mugeuk meekly admitted his fault.

"Sorry. I talked a lot because I thought I wouldn't have another chance to say these things. People who talk a lot usually make mistakes too. You don't have to worry about that since you don't talk much."

For a very brief moment, Hwa Mugi thought that it wouldn't be boring to have a guy like Geom Mugeuk as a subordinate. He could already imagine how frustrating it would be to watch those who pledged false loyalty to him out of fear. It was just as the Young Cult Leader said.

"Now, let's really fight." Geom Mugeuk drew the Black Demon Sword.

VWOOONG!

The Black Demon Sword cried out. Was it because it knew the opponent was its master's fated nemesis?

Hwa Mugi also drew his black sword. "You must be strong. Seeing how the Black Demon Sword is crying like this."

The two swords aimed at each other shone sharply.

"It's stuffy, so let's go outside and fight," Geom Mugeuk suggested.

Hwa Mugi readily accepted. "Let's do that."

The two went back out of the tavern and stood facing each other in the middle of the road in the Demon Village. The others stood in front of the Alluring Inn to watch their fight.

Geom Mugeuk released his aura in earnest.

The next moment, Hwa Mugi was standing in the sky. Originally, Geom Mugeuk's aura was a sea as deep as an abyss. The illusion of standing in the sky was due to the sky reflected in the clear water.

However, it was different now. This was the real sky.

As Geom Mugeuk absorbed the mysterious energy of the Six Elements Origin Qi during Body Reformation, his aura had changed from the sea to the sky. It did not drag the opponent into the deep sea like the abyss as his previous aura did, nor did it make one feel the fear of suffocation. It just showed the sky.

Hwa Mugi looked around. The feeling of standing in the real sky was truly an unexpected aura.

Revealing a martial artist's aura was intended to pressure and intimidate the opponent, but this sky did not harm or threaten him in any way.

That was why he was overwhelmed. He felt like he was standing all alone before vast nature. Before the transcendent aura of an absolute powerhouse that did not need to threaten the opponent.

He looked around him, then at Geom Mugeuk standing tall in the middle of that sky.

The sky and Geom Mugeuk were not separate. The sky was Geom Mugeuk, and Geom Mugeuk was the sky.

How can he have the aura of such an absolute being when he is so young?

That angered him.

"You have such a great aura, yet you said you would just go on trips, dig up poisonous herbs, and drink wine all night?" he asked incredulously.

Geom Mugeuk calmly answered that anger. "I guarantee you that finding someone to happily do all that with is much harder than ruling the murim."

Hwa Mugi revealed his aura. Cold killing intent flowing from the black sword spread out in all directions like a spiderweb, becoming a biting north wind that froze the surrounding air.

CRACK! CRACK!

The powerful killing froze the lungs. It froze the sky. Ice flowers bloomed everywhere.

Hwa Mugi's killing intent rejected the sky. It did not acknowledge nature and denied Geom Mugeuk's attitude toward life.

"Don't be ridiculous. If the heavens gave you strength, they gave it to you to use in a fitting place. You're deceiving the fate of a martial artist."

He punched the frozen part of the air.

CLANG!

Surprisingly, the sky shattered, revealing what was behind it—a pitch black darkness.

Hwa Mugi looked into the darkness through the broken spot. "This is your true form."

He tore away the area around the break with his hand, and the sky fell like a collapsing ice wall, showing more of the darkness beyond.

"……" Geom Mugeuk silently watched Hwa Mugi break his aura.

"This darkness as thick as an abyss is your true form, isn't it? Why do you live hiding yourself?" Hwa Mugi asked.

Geom Mugeuk answered nonchalantly, "That side is me, and this side is me too. Just as there is a you who wants to kill me, and a you who wants to talk to me."

He walked slowly toward Hwa Mugi, coming close enough to touch if he reached out, but Hwa Mugi stood his ground.

Suffocating tension flowed. It felt like he would thrust his sword at the opponent in a flash.

Geom Mugeuk touched the broken part with his hand as if repairing it, then that place became the blue sky again. "I just like this side better than that side," he said, staring at Hwa Mugi. "Why didn't you attack when I was filling that hole?"

Hwa Mugi flinched at Geom Mugeuk's question. He didn't want to fight this battle with a sneak attack. He really felt that way. He wanted to fight properly with this Young Cult Leader. Suddenly, the words Geom Mugeuk had said came to mind.

"I guess I'm thinking about what comes after killing you all," he replied. It meant that his souls were also watching him.

A smile formed on Geom Mugeuk's lips. "You're doing well."

"I'll only be doing well if I kill you."

VROOOOM!

inner qi began to be injected into the black sword in Hwa Mugi's hand.

VROOOM!

inner qi also settled in Geom Mugeuk's the Black Demon Sword.

The two men, who had filled their two swords with inner qi, slashed at each other at the same time as if on cue.

SWISH! BOOOOM!

The swords collided with a tremendous explosion, but surprisingly, neither of them was pushed back.

Hwa Mugi glared from beyond the crossed swords. "You!"

He had used all the force of his inner qi, containing the combined strength of Hyeok Docheon, the Divine Sword Martial Emperor, Ju Gasin, and the Heavenly Fate Palace Lord, but Geom Mugeuk was not pushed back at all

"Why aren't you being pushed back in a battle of inner qi?"

Leaving aside Geom Mugeuk's skill, this was shocking.

Geom Mugeuk smirked. "I ate a lot of this and that because I'm the incarnation of greed."

The onlookers were just as surprised.

Jin Paecheon and Baek Jagang looked at each other and exchanged glances. They unconsciously looked at each other with the thought, 'Is what I saw real?' It was the moment they confirmed that Geom Mugeuk had more inner qi than anyone else here.

The Fist Demon expected Geom Mugeuk to retreat a step or two, so he was inwardly surprised to see him not retreat even a single step.

As expected, the Cult Leader knows him better than I do.

Standing next to him, Geom Woojin watched silently as if he had already expected this to happen.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader did not miss the chance to take credit. Since he couldn't say it to Geom Mugeuk who was fighting, he whispered to the Sword King standing next to him, "My sacred artifact contributed to that inner qi!"

"……" The Sword King said nothing, though in fact, he could also brag about this part. They were the two who had eaten their fill of miracle herbs together while excavating the Secret Box with Geom Mugeuk in the past.

I fed him well that day.

Of course, he did not speak those words aloud. After giving a faint smile to the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, he watched Geom Mugeuk fight.

The reason the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader could say such things was because Geom Mugeuk was fighting that well.

Swords clashed and flashed. Geom Mugeuk did not just have a lot of inner qi. The speed at which he moved his body and thrust his sword also transcended imagination.

The impression of the two men who entered the fight was the same.

Strong!

Hwa Mugi felt that Geom Mugeuk was more difficult than when he faced the Chairmen. This was true even though he was using all the skills he had hidden earlier.

Geom Mugeuk also realized that Hwa Mugi was much stronger than he thought.

Lives were exchanged every time the swords flashed, and not a single mistake could be tolerated.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Dozens of moves passed within a single breath. Their fight was not a fight of limbs, nor a fight of swords, nor a fight of technique and technique. It was a fight between the will to kill each other.

Geom Mugeuk was now displaying the best skill he could. He did not hide his skills.

He would end it. He intended not to pass this fight on to the people behind him.

He knew that his father wanted to kill Hwa Mugi himself to protect him. He knew that the Chairmen, the Demon Supremes, the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader, and the Sword King all felt the same way, but he would protect them.

This was why he had walked that long road. Why he had endured that hard life to save the people who shouldn't die.

I will save everyone.

CLANG!

At that moment when a tense offense and defense were exchanged, the two were pushed back in opposite directions by a powerful move.

They unleashed a decisive move simultaneously.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Four evil spirits surrounded Geom Mugeuk. Not the evil spirits he always saw, but evil spirits with unfamiliar faces.

This was Hwa Mugi's Human Destroying Stance, the First Technique of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art

Seeing Geom Mugeuk trapped by the evil spirits, Hwa Mugi laughed.

You are finished now!

It was a decisive move aiming for Geom Mugeuk's carelessness.

WHOOSH!

However, Geom Mugeuk's technique activated almost immediately after.

Darkness settled all around.

SWISH!

And a single ray of light cut through the darkness.

Geom Mugeuk had unleashed the Darkness Flash, the Fourth Technique of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

It was a battle of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art versus the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

The onlookers were startled. They never imagined that the combatants would unleash the Nine Calamities Demonic Art so suddenly during a swordfight.

The Sword King tried to jump in right away. If Geom Woojin hadn't been standing still and watching, he would have already rushed in.

Unfortunately, he was too slow. The evil spirits on all sides were striking down at Geom Mugeuk with their swords. In every direction lay only death.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, something pure white seemed to overlap with the evil spirit attacking Geom Mugeuk from the front.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

The other three evil spirits' swords crashed down upon their target.

What made the evil spirit of the Human Destroying Stance, which could never be penetrated normally, disappear was the Impenetrable Demonic Wall.

The moment Geom Mugeuk set up the Impenetrable Demonic Wall, sized to block one person, overlapping where the evil spirit in front was standing, the evil spirit in front disappeared. At the same time, he canceled the Impenetrable Demonic Wall and sprang forward in the blink of an eye.

He had not let his guard down. He had especially thought about how to react when the Nine Calamities Demonic Art was unleashed.

Since he had made up his mind to escape like this if the Human Destroying Stance was used against him, he responded with the Impenetrable Demonic Wall in that fleeting moment when the Human Destroying Stance was unleashed.

Opposite him, Hwa Mugi also blocked the Darkness Flash in an unexpected way.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Four evil spirits appeared around him.

CLANG!

The Darkness Flash cut the evil spirits' necks, but it could not cut Hwa Mugi. He had used the Human Destroying Stance on himself to use the evil spirits as shields.

Both men stared at each other in surprise.

Hwa Mugi was truly speechless. He didn't know Geom Mugeuk would break through the Human Destroying Stance with the Impenetrable Demonic Wall and come out unscathed.

How? His Impenetrable Demonic Wall is as small as mine!

Geom Mugeuk too could tell that Hwa Mugi had achieved complete mastery of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, and that his level was comparable to Hyeok Docheon, the Demonic Cult Leader from three hundred years ago.

In fact, he was even more shocked.

"How did you use two the Human Destroying Stances at the same time?" he asked.

Hwa Mugi had attacked with the Human Destroying Stance and defended with the Human Destroying Stance at the same time. He could never do that.

Did he achieve Twelfth Star mastery of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art?

He glanced at his father, and Geom Woojin shook his head slightly, also looking surprised.

Oh. So it's impossible to use two Human Destroying Stances simultaneously even at Twelfth Star mastery.

"How on earth did you do that?" he asked again.

Instead of answering, Hwa Mugi rushed toward Geom Mugeuk drastically faster than before.

SWOOOSH!

In a flash, Hwa Mugi's black sword was cutting the front. Geom Mugeuk twisted his body to dodge, but…

SPURT!

Blood splattered from Geom Mugeuk's shoulder. Fortunately, it was a shallow cut, but it was an attack that would have cut off his arm if he had been close.

SWISH!

Geom Mugeuk dodged the second attack and retreated. If it weren't for the Four Strides of the Wind God, Hwa Mugi would have cut him this time as well.

The onlookers were startled. It was a threatening and fast attack, enough to make them think Hwa Mugi must have been hiding more of his skills.

WHOOOOSH!

Powerful demonic qi shimmered like a haze from Hwa Mugi, but that wasn't all. Before anyone knew it, the whites of his eyes turned completely black.

The moment Geom Mugeuk saw those eyes, the fine hairs on his entire body stood up, and the Heavenly Demon Defense Art activated to the extreme.

Hwa Mugi's voice resonated as if coming from a bottomless pit. "Why didn't you try to talk to me?"