Chapter 603: Because I Have Reached You
Chapter 603: Because I Have Reached You
Geom Mu-geuk was already in position.
When he had leaped from the cliff and reached the camp ahead of the others, the Heavenly Will Palace Master was fortunately away from his tent. Thanks to that stroke of luck, Mu-geuk had successfully slipped inside, allowing him to witness the entire conversation between the three men.
The details regarding the prophecy were nothing new to Geom Mu-geuk; he had already committed them to memory. What truly stunned him, however, was the tribute the Dark Palace Master had brought.
When the man produced the Ice Dragon Divine Armor and the Heavenly Yin Pill from his leather pouch, Mu-geuk’s breath caught.
‘Those two items were gifts from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.’
There was no world in which the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—even as an ally of the Dark Palace—would provide such a peerless protective armor and spirit medicine for the sake of the Heavenly Will Palace Master.
‘Did they lace the medicine with poison?’
That was his first suspicion. But after watching the Heavenly Will Palace Master consume the Heavenly Yin Pill, Mu-geuk confirmed there were no immediate ill effects.
‘Does the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult actually want the Heavenly Will Palace Master to win?’
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, that seemed impossible.
Next, the Heavenly Will Palace Master donned the Ice Dragon Divine Armor. Watching this, Mu-geuk’s suspicions deepened. These were doubts that the Guardian Palace Master, blinded by his own loyalty, had failed to consider.
‘Did they do something to the armor itself?’
What if the Heavenly Yin Pill was merely bait? What if they were targeting the exact moment he let his guard down after confirming the medicine was safe?
Indeed, the Heavenly Will Palace Master put on the armor without the slightest hint of suspicion. What if they had coated the interior with a substance even a master of his caliber couldn't detect? Yet, the Palace Master seemed to feel nothing out of the ordinary.
Mu-geuk eventually shook his head.
‘No. That’s too easy to discover.’
The Palace Master might have inspected the armor’s lining, or simply chosen not to wear it until the duel. Since it wasn't a foolproof plan, it was unlikely that the Dark Palace Master—a man overflowing with cold, calculated ambition—would handle things so sloppily.
‘Then what is the play?’
He continued his train of thought, working from the premise that a trap must exist.
‘Could it be...?’
Extreme Yin and Extreme Yin. With the Heavenly Yin Pill and the Ice Dragon Divine Armor combined, the Heavenly Will Palace Master’s body was now in a state of concentrated, indescribable Extreme Yin.
And this was happening while he was preparing solely for the Extreme Yang attacks the Martial Emperor Divine Sword would unleash.
If he were struck by a surprise attack imbued with Extreme Yin internal energy while in that state, the very items meant to protect and empower him would become a lethal poison.
Regardless, the conclusion was already set. In tomorrow’s duel, the Heavenly Will Palace Master would die.
It was because the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had intervened in this manner that the history of the Murim Alliance held no detailed records of the fight. Only the singular fact remained: the Martial Emperor Divine Sword had slain the Heavenly Will Palace Master.
After the Guardian Palace Master was dismissed, the Heavenly Will Palace Master and the Dark Palace Master shared a startling exchange.
“Did you bring the Secret Casket?”
“Yes. It is here.”
They had brought the large Secret Casket to this place? The moment he heard those words, the prophecy flashed through Mu-geuk’s mind.
Darkness shall lead thee to Heaven’s Will.
Mu-geuk instinctively felt that the prophecy was tied to the large Secret Casket. The Dark Palace Master was leading him to the very place where the relic was hidden.
“Where is it now?”
To the Palace Master’s question, the Dark Palace Master gave a cryptic reply.
“The Secret Casket is beneath the lamp.”
*
Swaaaaaaa.
A heavy downpour blurred the world. Rainwater fell like jagged blades, shattering into a thousand fragments against the mountain earth.
Flash! Rumble!
The world stropped into white light with each bolt of lightning. The silhouettes of the Heavenly Will Palace Master and the Dark Palace Master, clad in bamboo hats and straw raincoats, appeared briefly as they scaled the slopes before vanishing back into the gloom. With every flash, they seemed to teleport to a new location.
The place they eventually arrived at was, surprisingly, halfway up the mountain where Baekyang Peak—the site of tomorrow’s duel—was located.
As they pushed through a pathless thicket, the Dark Palace Master spoke.
“My palace’s labyrinth formation begins here. From this point on, step exactly where I step.”
The Heavenly Will Palace Master followed, treading precisely in the other man's footprints. After navigating the formation and pushing through the dense brush, they found a temporary wooden building standing in a small clearing.
“I had to move it in a hurry, so it is not as grand as it should be.”
Despite his modest words, the structure was remarkably well-constructed. Before entering, the Heavenly Will Palace Master paused.
“Why here of all places?”
He was asking why it couldn't have been kept safely in the rear. The Dark Palace Master had his reasons.
“It is for your sake, Palace Master.”
“For my sake?”
“I believed that if it were near the site of the duel, the Secret Casket might exert some form of divine influence.”
Even now, the Dark Palace Master whispered sweet, manipulative words. The Heavenly Will Palace Master knew the man's ambition well, but he had to concede one thing: the Dark Palace Master was the only one capable of hiding the Secret Casket in such an unexpected place to evade their enemies' eyes.
“Please, go inside. I will wait here.”
The Heavenly Will Palace Master nodded once and stepped into the building.
The Secret Casket was inside. The very object that had been the catalyst for everything.
The Palace Master stood before the relic. How desperate must his heart have been to bring the sacred treasure of the Heavenly Will Palace all the way to this battlefield?
When the large Secret Casket had first produced the small one, he never imagined a moment like this would come. He had rejoiced then, believing that Heaven’s Will had finally chosen him.
Looking at the casket now, a flash of regret for years wasted crossed his eyes. His connection to Heaven’s Will had begun when he was a mere child.
“Did you know? I have grown up watching you since I was a boy,” he spoke, addressing the Secret Casket as if it were a living person. “I have been told since my youth that protecting you is the sole mission of this palace. Because you were a sacred treasure containing the will of the heavens, I did not even dare to look you in the face. I have lived my entire life for the mission of guarding you.”
At this moment, he did not confess the cold truth: that his fierce protection of the casket wasn't just out of family duty or religious sanctity.
Unification of the Murim.
It was for that singular dream. He believed that once the Secret Casket awakened, he would have the power to achieve it.
“Even as I aged, I strove to keep that devotion unchanged. I believed that you were not just a dust-covered statue, not merely an old symbol passed down through the generations.”
The Palace Master’s voice, which had been a low murmur, suddenly rose.
“And yet, you woke up. You, whom I have watched and believed in my entire life!”
The Heavenly Will Palace Master pulled the small Secret Casket from his robes and held it high.
“So, give me strength! Deliver Heaven’s Will to me!”
But neither the large casket nor the small one reacted. The Palace Master’s expression hardened. He had held a sliver of hope that if he conveyed his absolute sincerity, the casket would respond.
He brought the small casket close to the large one. He was tense, fearing it might be reabsorbed, but still, nothing happened. He did not give up. He circled the relic, even attempting to inject his internal energy into it—an act that would have been unthinkable sacrilege in the past.
“If you aren't going to give me strength, then why did you wake up at all!” he roared.
His shout echoed through the small building, but the miracle he anticipated never occurred. Suddenly, the Divine Maiden’s prophecy surfaced in his mind.
—Heaven’s Will does not lie with you, Palace Master.
Even so, he did not abandon hope.
“I believe in you.”
He told himself that in the heat of battle, when life and death hung in the balance, the power would finally manifest. The birth of a hero who would unify the world would not be a simple affair, after all.
Leaving those final words, the Heavenly Will Palace Master stepped back out into the storm.
The Dark Palace Master was waiting in the rain. Having heard the desperate shouts from inside, he knew the Palace Master had failed.
“Let us go.”
The Heavenly Will Palace Master walked into the downpour, his back straight but his heart heavy. The Dark Palace Master followed. A look of feigned regret appeared on his face, but his inner thoughts were far more predatory.
‘If the prophecy has abandoned you, how could the Secret Casket possibly respond?’
It was clear the Dark Palace Master believed the Divine Maiden’s words. He interpreted the awakening of the casket in his own way:
‘The awakening of the Secret Casket was never a sign of Heaven’s Will for you. Ultimately, it was the signal to seat me as the master of the Heavenly Will Palace.’
Seeing that the casket gave the other man no strength only confirmed his conviction. And so, the two men, each harboring different delusions, disappeared into the rain.
Once they had departed, a figure finally revealed himself.
It was Geom Mu-geuk. He had used his New Eye Technique to shadow them from a distance. Thanks to the torrential rain, his tailing had gone unnoticed. Truly, this storm felt like a gift sent from the heavens just for him.
While following them, Mu-geuk had used his New Eye Technique to memorize exactly where they stepped. Now that they were gone, he entered the building.
Geom Mu-geuk stood before the Secret Casket. The object that would change everyone’s fate was within his reach.
The three people who had come here today each felt their own version of Heaven’s Will. Geom Mu-geuk was no different.
“You from three hundred years in the future brought me here.”
Mu-geuk approached the casket slowly, speaking with a strange familiarity. Having lived with the small casket as his constant companion, he found it easy to address this larger version.
“There must be a reason why the future you brought me to the present you, right?”
Mu-geuk placed his hand on the casket. It looked identical to the one he had seen with the Sword King in the basement of the Yellow Dragon Martial Arts Hall, but the energy it radiated was different. It felt more vibrant, more... alive.
“You’ve changed a lot in the meantime. Well, I suppose it’s only natural to change after suffering for three hundred years.”
Mu-geuk decided that when he returned, he would comfort the future casket for all its hard work. Did that sentiment get through? The casket vibrated minutely.
‘The Secret Casket can feel me.’
If so, there were words he had to say to it at this very moment. He believed that the reason he was called to this world was not just to witness the past, but to deliver this specific message.
Mu-geuk spoke calmly, his hand resting firmly on the cold surface.
“Darkness shall lead thee to Heaven’s Will.”
Since I have reached you, now show me my Heaven’s Will.
The moment Mu-geuk spoke the prophecy, the small Secret Casket in his robes began to thrum.
In the next instant—
Cr-cr-crack!
A strange, thunderous sound erupted from the large Secret Casket. It was the very reaction the Heavenly Will Palace Master had desired so desperately.
Startled, Mu-geuk leaped backward. Then, an incredible sight unfolded.
Chiiiiing—
Emitting a resonant hum, characters and symbols began to be carved onto the walls of the casket. They were circles—a black circle, a white circle, a blue circle, a red circle, a yellow circle, and finally, a purple circle.
The energies he had already absorbed began to stir and wake all at once upon seeing the circles carved into the casket.
Light burst simultaneously from the six circles, and that light coalesced into characters in the air.
—This mental method is only complete when the six energies are moved as one. In moving your True Qi, you must be as free as the wind yet as heavy as the earth. You must strike as hot as fire, yet be able to stop as cold as ice. You must be as deep as darkness and as powerful as a thunderbolt. If you can unify these six energies into one, you shall surely possess the greatest power of all time.
Mu-geuk’s heart hammered against his ribs as he read the passage. This oral formula was undoubtedly the mental method that would allow him to master the energies he had obtained through the Secret Casket.
At that very moment!
Riiiiip!
The void directly in front of Mu-geuk tore open. It was as if the empty air itself had been grabbed and pulled apart, revealing a primordial darkness within. From that darkness, white smoke rose and began to form characters.
‘It’s the mental method formula!’
However, he couldn't immediately grasp the meaning. It was mixed with unfamiliar terms—archaic words used in the Murim of ancient times.
That was only the beginning.
Rumble!
The ground beneath him shifted, and a layer of earth pushed up from below. An oral formula was written in the soil on that surface. Again, there were words he recognized and words he did not.
Simultaneously, something descended from the ceiling.
Crash!
Massive icicles dropped from the air. As if carved with a divine awl, the oral formula glowed white upon the frozen pillars.
Whoosh!
Flames erupted from all directions. Within the searing heat, the formula flickered in the dancing fire. It was a sight that inspired pure awe.
Whirrrrrrr!
A gale whipped above his head. Amazingly, characters were floating within the swirling wind as well.
Crackle!
Lightning struck. Even in the scorched marks where the bolts hit the floor, traces of the oral formula remained.
The formulas revealed themselves in a manner he had never seen in his life. Mu-geuk could feel the sheer, overwhelming weight of this mental method. However, no matter how brilliant he was, he couldn't memorize all of this in an instant, filled as it was with incomprehensible ancient terms.
A brief silence followed. The small Secret Casket against Mu-geuk’s chest vibrated.
Vrooooom.
In the next instant, the characters of the oral formulas all around him began to glow in their respective colors.
Swaaaaaaaaang!
Six streams of light, each containing a fragment of the divine oral formula, began to pour directly into Geom Mu-geuk’s body.