Chapter 843: Have You Decided What Kind of Life You'll Live?

TL: FoodieMonster007

Geom Mugeuk entered the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Headquarters.

The martial artists guarding the main gate bowed in unison. "Welcome, Young Cult Leader!"

Just moments before, they had been in a state of suffocating tension. They couldn't even be out here when the Demonic Flames were lit. All the traps and formations at the main gate were active, and they had been on standby in their designated locations.

However, once the Demonic Flames vanished and they saw Geom Woojin and the Demon Supremes return safely, they knew the battle had ended in victory. The story of events surrounding the lighting of the Demonic Flames would be told to their juniors for years. With enough exaggeration, it might even become an adventure tale starting with, "Let me tell you about the day the main gate was breached…"

Instead of returning to his residence, Geom Mugeuk headed for the temporary lodgings where the residents of the Demon Village were staying.

"It's the Young Cult Leader!"

"The Young Cult Leader is here!"

The residents of the Demon Village were overjoyed to see Geom Mugeuk. Although the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had brought them here for their safety, the sudden move had left them anxious. Now, though, the Young Cult Leader they trusted and followed had returned.

The residents crowded around Geom Mugeuk as he looked over their tents. No matter how much care was taken, a temporary shelter could only be so comfortable.

"You've all been through a lot," he comforted.

Jo Cheonbae rushed out from the crowd. "Young Cult Leader! You're safe."

"Innkeeper, have you been well?" Geom Mugeuk asked, taking Jo Cheonbae's hands.

"My goodness, why would a person of your stature do this?" Jo Cheonbae's face flushed. It was an immense honor and a great joy for the Young Cult Leader to hold his hands in front of so many people.

"The battle outside is over," Geom Mugeuk announced.

Everyone cheered in delight.

"Can we go back home now?"

"You can, but there's a problem," Geom Mugeuk said.

The villagers tilted their heads, puzzled.

"Everyone, follow me." Geom Mugeuk led them all out of the Headquarters.

When they arrived at the Demon Village, the residents were dumbfounded. Nothing remained where their homes once stood. Not even a trace of rubble was left. They couldn't believe their eyes.

"A great battle took place here," Geom Mugeuk explained. "It couldn't be helped."

At first, everyone was too stunned to speak.

Suddenly, a single sigh broke the silence, and then everyone began to show their emotions. Some were bewildered, while others clutched their heads in agony. Some collapsed and burst into tears. Others couldn't hide the resentment in their eyes as they looked at Geom Mugeuk.

Geom Mugeuk silently watched them let out their emotions.

"How are we supposed to live now?"

"Young Cult Leader! Please save us!"

"This is too much!"

The shock of losing their homes made them forget that the person before them was the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

"Everyone!" Jo Cheonbae shouted. "What is this rudeness toward the Young Cult Leader? If we had been here, we would have been wiped out just like this."

His words brought everyone to their senses. They realized the loss of their homes wasn't the real issue. If Geom Woojin hadn't moved them, they all would have died.

Jo Cheonbae turned to Geom Mugeuk. "Thank you so much for saving us," he said, showing the other villagers that gratitude should come first.

Following his lead, the other residents also thanked Geom Mugeuk.

"Thank you, Young Cult Leader."

Right, they could resent anyone else, but not the Young Cult Leader. They all knew how much he had done for them.

"Our Cult will rebuild your homes for you," Geom Mugeuk added.

Everyone felt a sense of relief. Without the Divine Cult's help, their lives would have become hopeless.

Moreover, that wasn't the only good news.

"Additionally, we plan to restore the furniture and belongings that were lost as best we can. We will also provide you with money to support yourselves for a while."

One of the residents who had previously shown resentment spoke up. "If you'd told us from the beginning, I wouldn't have acted so disgracefully. I'm sorry, Young Cult Leader."

Geom Mugeuk smiled bitterly. There was a reason he hadn't told them sooner. "I didn't say anything because I don't think it was a disgraceful display. Even if we build better buildings here and furnish them, we can't restore the decades of memories you've all built, can we?"

Not only Jo Cheonbae but all the residents were stunned by his words. They hadn't expected the Young Cult Leader to be concerned about something like that.

"So you can grieve more and resent more. If you hold it in, you'll fall ill from suppressed anger. For now, get angry and resentful to your heart's content."

Several people burst into tears they had been holding back. The Young Cult Leader was correct. This wasn't a problem money alone could solve. Taller and better buildings were nice, but other things had to be addressed first.

"I'm sorry for blowing up your memories."

Jo Cheonbae spoke for the residents. "Not at all. Saving our lives and building us new homes is a blessing we don't deserve. Thank you, Young Cult Leader."

Following Jo Cheonbae, all the other residents bowed their heads to the Young Cult Leader.

"Thank you for saying so," Geom Mugeuk acknowledged. "Starting tomorrow, our Cult will mobilize all its manpower to construct a new Demon Village. Let's work together to build our new home!"

If the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult put its mind to it, rebuilding the Demon Village wouldn't take long.

Geom Mugeuk grinned slyly. "Now, you've all worked hard, so think of it as life giving you a vacation and get some good rest! Oh, and all the money used for the reconstruction comes from my father. Thank him, not me."

Laughter erupted at his words, and the residents' faces brightened considerably. Their eyes, fixed on Geom Mugeuk, filled with indescribable gratitude and loyalty.

Suddenly, Jo Cheonbae recalled something the Young Cult Leader had said in the past, when he declared he would never tolerate external pressure.

"If someone tries to scare me by saying they'll call their father, I'll call my father too!"

He was mentioning the Cult Leader now, just as he did then, but today's Young Cult Leader felt different from the one in the past.

The Young Cult Leader is maturing so wonderfully.

Geom Mugeuk walked over to Jo Cheonbae's side. "Innkeeper, at least that one thing survived," he said, pointing to a single table. "I've got a great idea. Since it's a historically significant table, make people pay double to eat there."

Jo Cheonbae laughed at Geom Mugeuk's joke. He planned to take the table home and pass it down as a family heirloom.

"Oh, and don't be sad that the writing on this wall is gone. When the new building is up, we'll gather all those people who wrote on it and have them write something new," Geom Mugeuk consoled.

Jo Cheonbae revealed his honest feelings. "No, please don't do that. To be honest, I'm relieved that it's gone. I said before that I didn't care, but I was worried sick every day that someone might steal it or a drunk might scribble on it! I'm glad I don't have to worry about that anymore! Phew!"

Geom Mugeuk smiled. "You're right. You don't need the physical evidence, do you? After all, you experienced it yourself. Tell the customers about that day, word for word. You yourself are a legend."

Jo Cheonbae looked at Geom Mugeuk with trembling eyes. The Young Cult Leader always made him feel this way.

Who am I to deserve this?

Here was the Young Cult Leader, turning the old innkeeper of a tavern into a legend.

Geom Mugeuk sat at the table. "Innkeeper, bring some wine over here!"

He was joking, knowing full well that everything was gone.

THUD!

"Here you go."

Startled, Geom Mugeuk shot up from his seat. A person he never imagined seeing stood behind him—the old man who had sent him to the past.

"Elder!" he cried out.

Suddenly, everyone around them stopped moving. Jo Cheonbae was frozen. The people from the Demon Village were all still, as if time had stopped.

"You were abstaining from alcohol when we last met, so you couldn't drink, right? It should be fine now," the old man said with a smile, sitting down at the table.

Geom Mugeuk was stunned. This was his third meeting with the old man. The second time, in the Valley of Wind, the old man had patted his shoulder and said, "It's tough, isn't it? You're doing well."

He has no idea how much strength those words gave me.

He picked up the wine bottle and filled the old man's cup to the brim. "Please accept a drink from me."

The old man filled Geom Mugeuk's cup in return. "You've finally achieved your long-held wish by killing those who must be killed and saving those who must be saved."

"It's all thanks to you, Elder."

"Not everyone who goes back to the past can live a life like yours. It wasn't my doing, but yours."

The two men clinked their cups and drained them.

Geom Mugeuk's eyes widened. The wine the old man gave him was no ordinary drink.

A single cup of wine brought an astonishing change. Various innate true qi and inner qi were currently mixed within his body, including Hyeok Docheon's demonic qi, the Divine Sword Martial Emperor's orthodox qi, Ju Gasin's unorthodox qi, and even the Heavenly Fate Palace Lord's unique qi. On top of that, innate life qi of different natures were also jumbled together.

Normally, Geom Mugeuk could convert newly acquired inner qi into his own, thanks to the immense purity of his own qi. This time, however, the sheer volume of qi and the different properties of the life qi made merging it all a difficult task.

The quantity was enormous, but its purity had diminished. He had thought he would need to discard a significant portion.

SHHHHH…

However, after drinking the old man's wine, all that energy began to merge. Qi mixed with qi, and life qi with life qi. Soon, they merged into Geom Mugeuk's original qi and became a single entity, as if they had been his from the very beginning.

Geom Mugeuk's eyes grew clearer and deeper. A power that transcended human limits now flowed abundantly through his body.

"I thought you were going to reclaim this power," he muttered. Just a moment ago, as the energies were merging, he had thought the old man would take them away, but instead, the old man had made them identical to his own energy, allowing them to become an even greater power.

The old man chuckled, "It's power you earned through your own efforts. How could I do such a thing?"

Geom Mugeuk asked something he had suspected for a while, "You were the one who arranged for the Six Elements Origin Qi to be scattered throughout the murim, weren't you, Elder?"

The old man simply gave an enigmatic smile, as if he couldn't reveal such things, but Geom Mugeuk knew. It had to be the old man's arrangement.

Just as he had searched for the materials for the Great Art of Regression before, he now had to pass the trial of obtaining those six energies after regressing.

The old man looked at Geom Mugeuk with gentle eyes. He was the only person who knew how much Geom Mugeuk had suffered in his life before regression. "You've worked hard. Do you remember? Your answer when I asked what kind of life you wanted to live after your revenge was complete."

Geom Mugeuk nodded. He remembered it as vividly as if it were yesterday.

"I don't know. Whether I'll succeed my father and become the Heavenly Demon, live quietly with my back to the world, become a womanizer who possesses all the beauties of the world, leave the cult and live a life beating up trashy bastards, or become trash myself… I haven't decided anything."

The old man asked, "Have you decided now? What kind of life you'll live."

After a moment of thought, Geom Mugeuk answered calmly. "I haven't yet found a life that can be summed up in a single phrase. I still don't know whether I'll become the Heavenly Demon or a free spirit roaming the murim. I only know one thing. No matter what kind of life I live, I'll uphold my motto of living as joyfully as possible in each moment."

Suddenly, as if remembering something important, he asked pointedly, "Wait, shouldn't you be asking this question after I've convinced my father, who's trying to conquer the murim? I now have a task more difficult than catching Hwa Mugi! You know what kind of person my father is, don't you?"

The old man seemed to find the situation amusing. "Isn't life a series of hardships?"

"Surely you're not saying there's another hardship after that, are you?"

"Who can know the ways of the world?"

Geom Mugeuk was speechless. Besides Father's matter, could there really be more problems that I can't solve with my status and martial arts?

The old man spoke as if he had read Geom Mugeuk's mind. "Your child could give you trouble."

A child! Geom Mugeuk stared at the old man in shock. "Don't tell me you're preparing for something like that and getting ready to enjoy it, are you?"

"How could that be up to me? Whether you have children or not depends on you."

"Don't say such scary things!"

Geom Mugeuk's mind whirled. A child? It was an issue he had never once considered, but as his relationship with his father deepened, he had thought about having one. He wanted to be a father like his own.

After some thought, he sighed, "I could never be a good father like him. A father should be able to command respect with just a look, but I talk so much. Aren't I destined to be a nagging father?"

"You could have an ideal father-son relationship with a lot of conversation."

Geom Mugeuk stared intently at the old man and shook his head. "Don't try to push me in a weird direction. I'm not getting married!"

The old man, who watched Geom Mugeuk with a fond smile, bid him farewell. "Now that I've had a drink with you, I must be going."

Geom Mugeuk was sad to part with the old man. This meeting was different from their first and their second. "You asked me how I'm going to live, but my future life might disappoint you. I've used up almost all the coolness I had in me."

"Don't worry. The people you've made cool will in turn lead you to become even cooler."

Looking at the old man, Geom Mugeuk broke into a bright smile. "I haven't been able to greet you properly until now because I was always in a rush."

He gave the old man a deep bow, conveying his heartfelt gratitude to the heavens.

"Thank you so much for sending me back!"

The old man slowly faded away, leaving his final words. "Watching over your life has been a great joy to me."

And with that, the old man was gone.

Geom Mugeuk looked up at the sky. "Please continue to watch over me."

"There's no need to watch. The Young Cult Leader will definitely become the greatest Cult Leader in the history of the murim!" Jo Cheonbae, who had started moving again, exclaimed, naturally assuming Geom Mugeuk's words were directed at him.