Death of the Ghost Spear
Ghost Spear Shin Gi-woon.
"Ghost Spear!! You are surrounded! Cast aside your weapon and surrender, and we shall spare your life!!"
The voice boomed out, thick with profound inner force. A man sat with his back against a tree, his body a wreck of wounds — and at those words, he simply snorted a laugh and shouted back.
"You think I'd buy that, you bastard?!"
"What did you say?"
The man was Shin Gi-woon, the unorthodox master known as the Ghost Spear. Right now he was being hunted by the Martial Alliance's main force — all as part of some scheme they called the Purging of Demonic Evil, or whatever the hell it was.
One day he'd been living his life as usual. The next, he was a fugitive chased by the Martial Alliance. He was unorthodox, sure — but he had never laid a hand on ordinary people, never committed any truly vile acts.
And yet, simply for being a master of the unorthodox path, he had been snared in a Heavenly Net. For three days and three nights, the pursuit had raged without end.
"You self-righteous bastards claim to be the orthodox path — and you throw a Heavenly Net over a man just living his life?! Does that make any damn sense?!"
"It is only because we all acknowledge your martial prowess. You may take pride in that."
"Are you actually insane?"
Be proud that they cast a Heavenly Net over you because your martial arts were too good? People said the orthodox faction was a pack of lunatics — but looking at them now, they were several times madder than the unorthodox ever were.
"Ugh—! Cough!"
As the rage tore out of him, blood naturally welled up his throat. His internal and external injuries were anything but light. Martial Alliance experts were gathering from every direction, and the only path of escape left to Shin Gi-woon was to hurl himself off the cliff.
If I drop with this body, I'm dead nine times out of ten.
If he hadn't been a wreck of wounds, the odds might have been even. Falling now, though, survival was nearly impossible. And a frontal breakout? The Alliance Leader himself was blocking the escape route.
In the end, this place was as good as Shin Gi-woon's grave.
Regrets... none.
He had been rolling around the streets when his master's eye fell on him, and he had thrown himself into a one-man succession sect. Honestly, his memories of those days were hazy at best.
He had blacked out often enough from the brutal training — and more than anything, that so-called master had been a complete bastard.
The sect's name was the Battle Demon Spear Sect. It claimed to carry on the teachings of the Divine Spear, a legendary master of the martial world.
Shin Gi-woon was the twenty-ninth successor of the Battle Demon Spear Sect — and he had also been called the First Spear of the Unorthodox.
"Fine. You said surrender, right? I'll surrender."
Shin Gi-woon hurled his spear off the cliff and stepped into the open — right in front of the Martial Alliance warriors, whose murderous aura hung thick in the air. Even seeing him disarmed, they did not let their tension ease.
For three full days he had torn through their Heavenly Net with methods that defied belief. For all they knew, he was still putting on an act for some other purpose.
"Old man. You don't know much about the Battle Demon Spear Sect, do you?"
"Only that it is your sect."
"Figured as much. If you'd known, you would have run the second I walked out here like I was daring you to gut me."
"...!"
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
Shin Gi-woon erupted with explosive force. The shockwave was so violent that Martial Alliance warriors were flung backward, unable to hold their ground. Only a Transcendent-level master could have withstood it at all.
The Alliance Leader felt a cold sweat run down his spine as he watched the murderous energy rising off the Ghost Spear. Anyone could see it was a mutual-destruction technique.
"You mean for us all to die together?"
"I'm dying anyway — so I might as well take your head with me."
He shaped a spear of pure force and gripped it in his hand. Drawing even on his innate true energy, he felt for a moment as if he had brushed the supreme realm of the Profound — though that was probably just his senses going strange under the reverse light of a dying sun.
Alliance Leader Cheol Hwi-hyun's eyes sharpened as he read the Ghost Spear's condition.
"Forgive me, Ghost Spear. I shall accept this sin gladly in the next life."
"I don't need the next life — I'm going to kill you in this one!!"
He clenched the force-spear hard and charged the Alliance Leader. Moving like a bolt of lightning, he closed the distance to Cheol Hwi-hyun's face in the blink of an eye — and in the instant he drove the spear toward that hated throat—
Ting.
"My apologies. Time's up."
"What?"
"The one stalling for time... was us."
Cheol Hwi-hyun scattered the force-spear with a flick of his fingers. A situation that defied all common sense. And whether it was an illusion or not, the explosive inner force Shin Gi-woon had raised was simply gone.
As if his dantian itself had been sealed shut.
Pook!
"Ghk—!"
"A formation the Zhuge Clan poured careful study into creating. Even I have a seal branded upon my inner force within this array... but which of us has lost more is already decided."
"You filthy... bastard..."
A sword had pierced straight through his heart. The moment Shin Gi-woon's inner force was sealed and he stood dazed, Cheol Hwi-hyun had thrust without hesitation.
Pain beyond anything he had felt even when his meridians first opened. He tried somehow to lift his arm — but Cheol Hwi-hyun twisted the blade and crushed his heart.
"KRAAAAAAGH!"
"Farewell, Ghost Spear."
To have a mutual-destruction technique broken like this — Shin Gi-woon felt he could die of sheer injustice. He wanted to land even one clean hit, but his arm would not answer.
Strength drained from his whole body. A heavy languor settled over him, and his consciousness slipped away toward some distant shore.
Life really is empty...
Now that death was truly upon him, the regrets came thick and fast. Ah — if this was how it ended, he should have lived like more of a bastard.
He had toned down his true nature and tried to live like a chivalrous hero. He never picked fights unless someone started them first. He had thought that if he just lived in peace, no one would ever stab him in the back.
And then he got wrecked by the top dog of the orthodox path — the Martial Alliance Leader himself? Sitting quietly in an inn eating dumplings, only to be ambushed — the sheer absurdity of it still left him speechless.
No matter how many times I think about it, it still doesn't make sense.
The situation at the time had gone like this.
Shin Gi-woon had been strolling through the county as usual and stepped into an inn. He ordered dumplings and waited a short while.
Then a pack of idiots who looked for all the world like Martial Alliance warriors showed up. They seemed to think they were blending in, just loafing around the inn on a break.
Chewing his dumplings with loud smacks, Shin Gi-woon made a casual bet with himself and checked outside the inn.
Surrounded.
"Hey. You're made. Come on out."
"Ah. And here I thought we were perfect."
Every martial artist in the inn rose to their feet. Shin Gi-woon kept eating his dumplings.
Toward that still-chewing Ghost Spear, an old man wearing a taiji emblem began to shout.
"Ghost Spear! How dare you sit in an inn eating dumplings in perfect peace?!"
"...?"
"You know your own crimes!! Do you have any idea how many lives have fallen for every dumpling you have ever eaten?!"
"What the fuck?"
What kind of bullshit was that. Who the hell sat around thinking about pigs while eating dumplings.
Shin Gi-woon stared at the old man with a look of pure disbelief, but the old man did not stop.
"Ghost Spear, who consumes dumplings without even knowing his own sins! Your crimes—"
Whiiish—!
In the blink of an eye, a spear grazed past the old man's cheek. Shin Gi-woon had thrown it.
"You senile old bastard? Keep the nonsense to a reasonable level. Stop dragging innocent people into this and get lost!"
"I shall avenge the dumplings unjustly consumed!!"
"You son of a bitch! You ate dumplings too — why the hell are you only yelling at me?!"
"All hands — draw steel!"
Charge: Consumption of Dumplings.
In truth, it was the Purging of Demonic Evil. The sheer absurdity of inventing such a ridiculous crime just to kill a man sitting quietly still left him speechless.
And so Shin Gi-woon, snared in a Heavenly Net for the crime of eating dumplings, had his heart pierced by Cheol Hwi-hyun's sword.
Martial Alliance, go to hell. You pieces of trash.
There was only one thing a dying man could still do. A curse, aimed at the Martial Alliance — that garbage organization that murdered people for eating dumplings.
As his consciousness faded, the Ghost Spear drew his last breath on that very spot, and thought—
If I were ever given another chance—
Could I take my revenge?
"Welcome to Jamma Cave, you brats!"
"Hah—!!"
In the very instant of that thought, Shin Gi-woon jolted awake at someone's bellowing shout. The sight that met his eyes was himself, mixed in among a vast crowd of people.
What. Wasn't I dead— huh?
He stood dazed by the unexpected situation for only a moment. Then he realized the countless people around him were all wearing clothes marked with the same character on their backs, listening to someone speak. The character branded on them was—
Demon (魔).
The character that symbolized the Demonic Cult. There was no time to be confused. An unknown man's voice kept driving into his ears one after another.
"From this day forward, you have set foot upon the glorious path of serving the Heavenly Demon. There are only two ways to leave Jamma Cave! Die — or complete every trial and be reborn as a Demon Warrior!"
The man's voice rang out with thunderous force. Shin Gi-woon still could not make sense of any of this. Why was he here, when he should have been dead? Was this hell? Did you have to take an entrance exam just to get into hell?
"Killing is permitted inside Jamma Cave. The person standing right beside you could become your enemy at any moment. But there is no need to make too many enemies — so I advise you not to think of meaningless slaughter!"
That particular theory vanished in an instant. No matter how he looked at it, this was the Demonic Cult. Shin Gi-woon had not died — he had become a person of the Demonic Cult.
This isn't my body. This is... a child's body.
The height of his gaze had changed. It was much lower, and his arms and legs were smaller than before. At the very least, this was not his original body.
Come to think of it, the Demonic Cult was full of strange sorceries, wasn't it? Maybe he had fallen under one of those. The idle thought led him to a single, complete conclusion.
The real Demonic Cult? I've become a Demonic Cult person?
An organization that worshipped the demonic and accepted the Heavenly Demon as a god — the Demonic Cult. For reasons he could not begin to understand, Shin Gi-woon had been reborn in the body of some Demonic Cult brat.
Maybe... this could be an opportunity.
Even while he still had no idea what was going on, he gripped his sanity tight.
Think carefully.
If he got out of this Jamma Cave or whatever it was, he could become a Demon Warrior. And if he became a Demon Warrior, he would be a warrior of the Demonic Cult. The organization that stood opposed to the Demonic Cult was—
The Martial Alliance.
He still did not know why he had entered someone else's body after dying. But one thing was certain: a new chance had been given to him.
Who should he thank for this kindness? Ah — the Demonic Cult worshipped a being called the Heavenly Demon as their god, so maybe he should offer his gratitude to the Heavenly Demon?
In any case, now that he had entered this body with every memory of his dying moments intact—
At the very least, I have to put a spear through that bastard Cheol Hwi-hyun's throat.
The damned Martial Alliance Leader who had stabbed his heart and crushed it. He intended to do everything in his power to kill that man.
And while he was at it, turning the Martial Alliance — that nest of hypocrites — into a complete wreck would be nice too. After all, the reason Shin Gi-woon had become the First Spear of the Unorthodox in the first place was that he had never agreed with the orthodox faction's disgusting brand of justice.
I'll use everything I can use.
The Martial Alliance had struck first. He owed them a debt — and to repay that debt, he would stop at nothing.
So the reincarnated Ghost Spear swore, in his new body.