Chapter 839: You've Never Been the Wind, Have You?

TL: FoodieMonster007

Geom Mugeuk and the four masters entered the village.

"Do you think the exit is here?" the Divine Sword Martial Emperor asked.

Geom Mugeuk answered, "It's the place Chairman Ju told me about. He must have given me another gift."

"Don't trust my words too much. I only told you that a place like this exists," Ju Gasin mumbled tonelessly, feeling burdened by the statement.

Geom Mugeuk smiled. "You should say that to the person next to me, not me. I won't blame you even if we can't find it."

Ju Gasin glanced at Hyeok Docheon.

Hyeok Docheon smirked. "A man should take responsibility for the words he spouts."

"……" Ju Gasin silently turned away.

They looked around the village.

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor sighed, gazing at the corpses scattered everywhere. "He really killed a lot of them."

An entire village had been massacred, including women and children. It was a gruesome sight.

He had only visited this place once or twice before and rarely returned. This was not a sight he liked to see.

Until now, I've never thought deeply about this place. I just took it for granted. Since this is the mind of the Celestial Killer Star, of course there would be places littered with corpses. I also hated the smell of rotting bodies.

And yet, Geom Mugeuk predicted this was where the Celestial Killer Star had committed his first murder.

"You figured it out as soon as you arrived," he commended.

Geom Mugeuk shook his head. "I might not be correct. I was just sharing my speculation… hmm?"

Geom Mugeuk led the group to a house on the edge of the village, seemingly having noticed something. "I think this is the house we need to find," he declared confidently.

The certainty in his voice puzzled the Divine Sword Martial Emperor and the other three masters. To them, the house looked no different from the others.

"Why do you think so?" the Divine Sword Martial Emperor asked.

Geom Mugeuk looked around the yard. "Look over there," he said, pointing to a swallow's nest under the eaves. "And over there, too."

Everyone looked where Geom Mugeuk pointed. Neatly arranged jars stood in the yard, something they hadn't seen at other houses. Farming tools were propped against the wall, and flowers bloomed in a corner.

"If this village was created from his memories, then this place has far more intricate details than the other houses," Geom Mugeuk explained.

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor nodded in understanding. "He remembers this house in much greater detail than the others."

"He probably came here often."

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor had been observing carefully as they walked but hadn't noticed such a difference. Even Ju Gasin, a frequent visitor, hadn't perceived the difference. They were once again amazed by Geom Mugeuk's keen eye.

Geom Mugeuk crossed the yard and entered the house. Just as he had said, this was the house they were looking for.

When he opened the door, a completely unexpected scene unfolded. Hwa Mugi was waiting for them.

"After all the years we've spent together? Tsk, what a disloyal bunch of humans," Hwa Mugi grumbled.

No one was surprised, since they knew Hwa Mugi could hear everything they said in his mental world.

Geom Mugeuk chuckled, "If your companions make a choice like this after spending so much time together, shouldn't you reflect on yourself instead of sneering at others?"

Hwa Mugi frowned. "You knew I'd be waiting," he concluded from Geom Mugeuk's attitude.

Geom Mugeuk nodded. "Because you must have instinctively known this was your last chance to talk to me."

"Last chance? You won't be able to escape, and we'll be together for the rest of our lives."

"If I'm trapped inside you…." Geom Mugeuk declared, "I won't say a single word to you until the day you die."

"!" Hwa Mugi stared at Geom Mugeuk, bewildered.

This talkative man won't say a single word until he dies?

Was it because he found it unbelievable? No. Hwa Mugi felt it instinctively. This Young Cult Leader truly wouldn't say another word.

Geom Mugeuk explained, "The reason I won't talk isn't because you trapped me here. When martial artists fight and one fails to overcome an evil art and gets trapped, they must accept the consequences."

"Then why won't you talk?" Hwa Mugi asked.

"If a situation arises where I have to live trapped inside you, it would mean you've killed my father. If I can't get out, my father will kill you. He's not the type of man to let you live, even if it's inside the Celestial Killer Star. Didn't he already tell you he'd kill you in two hours?"

"……" Hwa Mugi listened to Geom Mugeuk's words in silence. It seemed that Geom Mugeuk understood his father perfectly.

Geom Mugeuk continued, "A situation where we talk for the rest of our lives would mean you've killed my father and everyone else. That's why I won't talk. You'd be the enemy who killed my father and the people I care about."

Hwa Mugi raised one hand and moved it lightly in the air. "Then we'll all die."

Black smoke rose from his fingertips, forming a large human eye in the air. Through it, they could see the outside scenery that Hwa Mugi was watching.

Up ahead, Geom Mugeuk could see his father standing with the Fist Demon. His father's expression was the same as usual, but he now knew how much worry was hidden beneath that stoic face.

I'm sorry for making you worry, Father.

He shouted, "Father, please save your son!"

Of course, his shout couldn't be heard outside, but at that moment, Geom Woojin glanced in their direction. It might have been a coincidence, but he felt as if his father had truly heard his voice.

After looking at Hwa Mugi for a moment, Geom Woojin turned back toward the Fist Demon.

Hwa Mugi turned his head, showing Geom Mugeuk his own body lying a short distance from his father. The Sword King was sitting beside him.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader approached them. "Don't worry. You know it too, don't you? Even if you throw the Young Cult Leader into hell, he'll piss off the King of Hell and find his way out."

"I'm not worried," the Sword King denied.

"You're not?"

"I was just watching because he looks so peaceful while sleeping. He sleeps like a baby."

"Isn't it just peaceful because the Young Cult Leader isn't talking?"

The Sword King smiled at the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader's joke. In truth, he knew the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader was the most worried.

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader came closer and peered into Hwa Mugi's eye, his face appearing enormous. "Young Cult Leader, can you hear me? Hey. Constantly startling old people is bad for the heart. Stop startling the people in there, and stop startling us! Come on out. You said you were going on a trip with Go Wol!"

Geom Mugeuk's gaze deepened as he watched the Heavenly Wind Cult Leader. "Yes, I'll be out soon. Hey, show me the Chairmen too!"

Until now, Jin Paecheon and Baek Jagang were nowhere to be seen, perhaps in a different direction.

However, with a gesture from Hwa Mugi, the floating eye vanished. "As you can see, I've been subdued. How could I kill your father? I don't have a single wisp of inner qi right now, and even my acupoints have been sealed."

Geom Mugeuk grinned. "Isn't that the situation you were hoping for?"

Hwa Mugi flinched.

"You have enough inner qi, don't you?" Geom Mugeuk pointed out.

He understood why Hwa Mugi had used this technique, even at the cost of exhausting all his inner qi.

"I heard that if I'm trapped here for two hours, I can never escape, and my inner qi, life energy, and even my martial arts will be absorbed by you, right?"

The Heavenly Wind Cult Leader probably knows this much, but does he know this as well?

Geom Mugeuk turned to the Heavenly Fate Palace Lord. "What happens to his sealed acupoints then?"

The Heavenly Fate Palace Lord knew more about the Dark Heaven Soul Binding Art than anyone. He answered, "The moment all of your inner qi and life energy become the Celestial Killer Star's, all his blood vessels will open, unsealing his acupoints."

Geom Mugeuk's gaze turned to Hwa Mugi. "You plan to use that inner qi to launch a surprise attack with the Heavenly Demon Destroys the World, don't you?"

Hwa Mugi was stunned. Indeed, he had been aiming for that one move. Provoking the Demonic Cult Leader to get hit was also part of that hidden plan, to make his opponent lower their guard as much as possible.

If he succeeded, he could kill everyone in an instant. His opponent was especially off guard because his own inner qi was suppressed.

He really thought had truly prepared the perfect move.

"How did you know?" he asked, staring at Geom Mugeuk in shock.

Geom Mugeuk replied jokingly, "I'm in your mind right now, aren't I?"

Hwa Mugi didn't laugh at the bad joke. He was simply astonished. "Young Cult Leader, I truly acknowledge you," he said sincerely.

"You're so caught up in praise that you've forgotten what you're supposed to be doing," Hyeok Docheon suddenly interjected. This was no time to be leisurely chatting with the Celestial Killer Star.

The onlookers grew anxious.

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor desperately scanned the room.

If there's an exit in this room, I have to find it quickly.

Time was ticking away, yet Geom Mugeuk was just chatting leisurely, so he felt he had to find the exit himself. He wanted to fulfill his role as the Divine Sword.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see anything that resembled an exit.

"That man is deliberately stalling for time," Ju Gasin remarked.

Geom Mugeuk shook his head. "It's the opposite. I'm the one holding him here. I want to hear his story." He then asked a question to proved his point. "Who in this house did you kill?"

"Is this the time for such a question?" Hyeok Docheon roared. He could understand the conversation up to this point, as it was about figuring out the enemy's plan, but asking who Hwa Mugi killed? What was so important about that right now?

Hwa Mugi welcomed the question with open arms. Stalling for time was to his advantage, after all. "I don't know who lived in this house," he replied. "I killed everyone in the village."

Geom Mugeuk snorted. "No, you killed only one person. The person who lived in this house."

For a moment, Hwa Mugi's eyes glinted sharply.

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor asked in surprise, "You're saying this village wasn't massacred by his hand?"

"Yes, he likely killed only one person in this village."

"Why do you think so?"

"If he were cruel enough to massacre an entire village, would he have kept this place in his heart for so long?"

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor nodded. It made sense. A man cruel enough to massacre a village have wouldn't have kept this place in his heart for so long. "Then what about the corpses we saw on the way here?"

"They're likely illusions created by guilt. He must have had to convince himself, 'I'm not the person who killed that one person. I am the Killer Star who kills everyone.' He must have needed that mindset to endure."

"……" Hwa Mugi didn't refute it, instead staring intently at Geom Mugeuk.

Geom Mugeuk asked, "That first murder, it had already happened by the time you came to your senses, hadn't it?"

"!" Hwa Mugi's face twitched.

"Tell me about that day," Geom Mugeuk demanded.

Hyeok Docheon reacted before Hwa Mugi did. "You're going to listen to that kind of story at a precious time like this?" He grabbed Geom Mugeuk by the collar. "Cut the crap and find the exit! Use that clever head of yours, not that talkative mouth!"

The Divine Sword Martial Emperor didn't stop Hyeok Docheon. He couldn't understand Geom Mugeuk either and wondered if he had given up.

Still, even with his collar grabbed, Geom Mugeuk didn't back down. "I want to hear your story, Hwa Mugi."

Hyeok Docheon finally let go, shoving Geom Mugeuk back irritably. Without his inner qi, he was no match for the Young Cult Leader. Otherwise, he would have beaten the little bastard half to death to force him to find the exit. "Looks like we'll never escape this place," he grumbled.

Meanwhile, Hwa Mugi felt bewildered as he looked at Geom Mugeuk, who was still watching him. Come to think of it, Geom Mugeuk had said he wanted to talk from the very first moment they met.

"Why do you want to hear my story so badly?" he asked.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand.

Geom Mugeuk conveyed his honest feelings. "The Celestial Killer Star, a powerful light that could shake the world, yet you've never shone according to your own will, have you? You've only spun like a pinwheel, but you've never been the wind, have you?"

"!"

"After committing a murder that left such a long-lasting, unforgettable scar, you were dragged away by the Darkness Palace Lord, who implanted these people's souls into your body. Learning martial arts, being sealed away later, none of that was your will, right? And what about when you broke the seal and came here? Was that really by your will? The Darkness Palace Lord probably told you to eliminate the Demonic Cult first and unify the murim."

Geom Mugeuk glanced behind him.

"On the other hand, everyone here had their own will. For the peace of the murim, for the unification of the murim, for the will of heaven, for the world of the unorthodox path. It was because of our individual wills that we created today's outcome, but what about you?"

He looked at Hwa Mugi again.

"I hope that the words containing your will don't end up being just 'I'll kill you'."

Because over the past years, neither the Darkness Palace Lord nor the four masters here have ever properly listened to you.

"I'll listen to you."

Because thanks to you, I was able to come this far. Thanks to you, I have become happy. So, release that deep resentment you couldn't tell anyone and vent it to me.

Hwa Mugi stared at Geom Mugeuk in silence for a long time. Finally, he opened his mouth. "…This crazy bastard, what do you take me for!"

Starting with those words, Hwa Mugi began to curse. He cursed indiscriminately.

Geom Mugeuk simply listened.

After Hwa Mugi had hurled every curse he knew, he snarled, "Let's see if you're still saying that when all your people are dead."

He vanished in an instant.

Geom Mugeuk watched him until the very last moment, then turned around. "Well, at least he got to curse his heart out before he left."

The four men were looking at Geom Mugeuk with different expressions. Hyeok Docheon looked like he was finishing the rest of the cursing with his expression. The Divine Sword Martial Emperor smiled as if he had given up. Ju Gasin remained emotionless, and the Heavenly Fate Palace Lord sneered.

"So your grand 'will of heaven' was to have a conversation with the enemy," the Heavenly Fate Palace Lord taunted.

Geom Mugeuk nodded seriously. "I suppose it is."

Hyeok Docheon shook his head at his meek acceptance. "Then you should have found the exit with that brilliant conversation of yours! It's all over now, anyway. You wasted all our time spouting nonsense."

It wasn't a matter of the remaining time. He felt that Geom Mugeuk had no intention of finding the exit in the first place.

However, Ju Gasin had a different idea. "You determined from the start that the exit couldn't be found," he said.

"I hope this choice was worth it for you," the Divine Sword Martial Emperor said, sensing a special kind of resolve in Geom Mugeuk that he himself did not understand.

Just as everyone was giving up, Geom Mugeuk released his qi to create a barrier around them, ensuring their conversation couldn't be heard outside.

"You're all wrong! I've already found the exit," he whispered.

Everyone was taken aback. Geom Mugeuk's words instantly explained why he had been acting so leisurely. As everyone stared at him with shocked faces, an even more astonishing fact was revealed.

"I, together with all of you, are the exit."