I Am Here, Jeokmaryeong!
“You were there too! You bastard I’ll tear to shreds! Heaven itself has helped me!”
The white-masked Jeokmaryeong roared with a fury that seemed ready to bring the cliff down.
—Kwaaaaah!
At those words, dozens, then hundreds of black wraiths rose from the shadows of the cliff.
The strongest force of orderly evil that all of the martial world feared—the black mist of death that erased everything!
“Even the Heavenly Demon Cult!”
Most of the Zhongnan Sect disciples standing guard, along with the few from Emei, looked ready to faint.
From front and rear, massive waves of death surged forward, snarling.
“This time I’ll definitely tear him apart!”
“For the Blood Demon Lord! We offer this glory upon the Blood Demon Lord’s altar!”
Jeokmaryeong’s black wave and the Blood Cult’s crimson wave led the charge, howling.
—Kwadududu!
The black tide poured down the cliff like an ebbing flood. Behind it, a red sandstorm of Blood Cultists came roaring in.
Mumyeong muttered,
[The biggest goddamn mess in the history of the martial world.]
The orthodox martial artists were losing their will to fight one after another.
Even the Emei leadership conducting the Flowering Ceremony seemed to grasp the desperate situation. Yet there was nothing they could do. All they could manage was to pour everything into completing the ceremony.
“In this chaos Zhongnan won’t be any help, and Emei’s leadership would be useful but their hands are tied…”
So Yeomgyo sighed and drew her soft sword.
“Everyone, listen carefully to me from now on!”
Her voice, thick with immense inner energy, shook the battlefield.
“Bi, and the rest of you! Don’t just stand there like idiots—block the Demon Cultists on the cliff! Their numbers are smaller over there, so we can somehow manage!”
“W-who the hell do you think you are to order us around?!”
The Zhongnan disciples protested even in their panic.
“Y-yes, ma’am! Lady So Yeomgyo!”
But the Emei disciples were different. Focus returned to the eyes of the few Emei martial artists at her shout. Among them, So Yeomgyo was acknowledged in one form or another. They hurriedly moved according to her command.
“Wh-what?!”
The Zhongnan disciples blinked in confusion, then finally fell into step with the Emei and adjusted to the overall flow. Everyone rushed toward the cliff to stop the Heavenly Demon Cult.
I alone remained and shouted urgently,
“What about the rear?! What about the Blood Cultists behind us?!”
Behind her, the Blood Cultists were swarming in a black mass. Even at a rough glance, they outnumbered the Demon Cultists three to one.
—Kkeudeuk.
She clenched her teeth.
“Don’t worry about the rear.”
“How am I supposed to not worry?! Can’t you see those numbers?!”
So Yeomgyo roared back,
“Shut your mouth, Moyong Bi! Use the time you’d waste flapping your lips to block the Demon Cultists behind you! The bridge… the bridge behind me!”
From her thighs she drew the first of her two swords and gripped it together with her soft sword in dual hands. Her pupils narrowed into slits like a snake’s.
“I, the Blood Death Sect’s leader, will hold them.”
She planted herself across the bridge over the river.
It was impossible. Even for her, it was impossible. She would die for certain. There were limits to what a person could do.
I raised my voice until the veins stood out on my neck.
“So Yeomgyo! Don’t be reckl—!”
“Moyong Bi!”
—Kuuung!
A massive current of air began to swirl around her center. She clenched her swords and shouted,
“I won’t say I won’t die! But I’ll hold the rear even if it kills me!”
“…What?”
“If the Demon Cultists overrun me from behind, I will definitely die! My life is in your hands!”
“…!”
No one felt the crisis more keenly than she did.
“…Shit!”
I leapt backward. Below the cliff, the Heavenly Demon Cult horde was pouring down like a black swarm of rats. Beneath them the orthodox martial artists were charging out with desperate cries. Everyone had begun a life-or-death struggle, walking the tightrope of death.
“Mumyeong!”
[Got it!]
—Kiiiing!
My eyes turned into crimson demonic eyes. My entire body shuddered as my inner energy writhed.
—Kugugugu!!
Heaven and earth trembled. Behind us, a crimson wave several times larger than the Heavenly Demon Cult’s black tide was surging in. The only one holding the bridge over the blue river was So Yeomgyo alone.
—Deudeudeudeu…
The vast Blood Cult horde began crossing the bridge like rabid dogs, snarling and howling. Cold sweat ran down the back of So Yeomgyo’s neck. She glanced at me.
“Baekho was right after all. Good thing I brought you. Waiting four whole days at the inn just to pick you up was worth it—”
Her faintly smiling murmur brushed my ear, but I ignored it and ran.
I have to take care of the Demon Cultists as fast as possible and help her!
Compared to the Blood Cultists packing the far side of the bridge in endless numbers, the Demon Cultists numbered only in the dozens—relatively few. That didn’t mean they would be easy, but at least this side was something I could even contemplate facing.
“Hold them even if you die! If we lose the Guardian this time, our sect is finished!”
The Emei disciples closest to the cliff led the charge and slammed into the Demon Cultists. The scent of blood exploded. Bodies were torn apart and sent flying. The Emei fighters were desperate. If this Flowering Ceremony failed, the lineage of their Guardian would be completely severed. For a sect already in decline, that was a death sentence. The gem inherited by the Guardian was like a sacred flame carefully tended across generations—the very reason a sect existed.
“We must stop them!”
That was why they fought the Demon Cultists with death already accepted.
“W-we can’t lose either! Zhongnan disciples!”
Green martial robes fluttering, the Zhongnan fighters also threw themselves into the chaos. But the Demon Cultists of the Heavenly Demon Cult—once a pillar of the Great Orthodox-Demonic War who had clashed with the entire orthodox alliance—were far too much for them to handle.
“Aaaagh!”
“How can such demonic arts exist?!”
Was this what it meant when a fight wasn’t even a fight? The living formation I had felt when first facing Demon Cultists writhed again like a gigantic black centipede, sweeping the orthodox martial artists away.
“You bastard!!”
At the forefront, Jeokmaryeong was rampaging like a madman. Every swing of the blade in his hand piled corpses into mountains.
“Where are you? Come out! Are you hiding like a rat again this time? Just like you hid behind Mount Hua’s Guardian?! I’ll kill you for sure! This time for certain!”
He was looking for me. My hands trembled. My whole body was soaked in cold sweat. I yanked up my slipping face mask.
[Host, be wise! Hide among the crowd! Use them as shields.]
Mumyeong, reading my thoughts, pushed back.
“Keuk!”
This was no longer a battle between martial artists.
As expected!
We weren’t even opponents. It felt like a group of children fighting fully grown adults. They were being utterly violated. It was a massacre. I saw martial artists being crushed, knowing they would die and terrified, yet unable to retreat.
[Don’t worry. The orthodox side still has numbers. Don’t waver. In a large-scale clash, this level of death is only natural. Stay hidden in their ranks and hold your breath until at least a hundred corpses have piled up.]
“Hide, you say?”
Mumyeong’s voice was ice-cold. Not a single tremor.
[If their deaths can shave even a little of Jeokmaryeong’s strength, it’s a gain. Leave him to vent his rage and keep hacking at corpses a few more times.]
“You!”
I had forgotten. The being who lived and breathed inside me, always conversing, was originally a wraith born of the ancient Heavenly Demon Cult.
“You don’t even see people as people.”
Sometimes during our talks I felt closeness, yet at decisive moments I sensed a difference between us—though I had never clearly grasped what that difference was.
[I only need the Host not to die.]
Mumyeong offered no excuses.
—Ossaak.
That cold, mineral answer felt like ice water dumped over my entire body. I clenched my fists.
“Aaaagh!”
“Ugh!”
Screams rang out as Emei disciples were slaughtered. At my feet I saw Zhongnan robes soaked in red blood.
“W-we can’t be wiped out like this… we can’t…”
One Emei disciple collapsed, gasping, and died. A young Emei girl and an old woman who seemed to be her mother were stabbed side by side and perished. The middle-aged woman clutched her dying daughter and muttered,
“Someone… please save us from this hell—”
Countless Demon Cult blades plunged into them.
Jeokmaryeong roared,
“You bastard! Stop hiding and come out already! I saw you clearly! Even with your face covered, I know! I know you!”
Jeokmaryeong searched endlessly for me, scattering the scent of blood.
So… So Yeomgyo!
I looked back. On the bridge a fierce battle was raging as well.
“Haa! Haa! There’s really no end to them.”
So Yeomgyo staggered, clutching wounds through her torn clothes. She was soaked in blood and gasping. A mountain of Blood Cult corpses had formed. Not a single one had crossed the bridge. But in equal measure, red sword cuts were multiplying across her body. Her entire form was becoming a mess of blood and sweat. Her second and final sword still rested undrawn on her thigh. But I could tell. That too would be soon.
“Moyong Bi! You’re holding the rear properly, right?!”
So Yeomgyo screamed. The eyes of the Blood Cultists before her flashed.
“Kyaaak!”
In that instant three Blood Cultists charged with swords raised.
—Seogeok! Seogeogeok!
So Yeomgyo’s blades flashed. The three were carved into eight pieces and beheaded. A mist of blood burst outward. That became the trigger. With bizarre wails the Blood Cultists went berserk and rushed her.
“Euk!”
Even at her level she had not a single moment to glance behind. She stared only forward and held on with everything she had. One step. Two steps. What was certain was that she was clearly being pushed back. All around was pandemonium.
I clenched my fists. Crimson light flared in my eyes like flames.
[Host?]
“…Mumyeong, I’m not a good person. And more than anyone, I know that in today’s martial world, pursuing righteousness and chivalry just gets you treated like a fool. But.”
[Wait… Host, you can’t be—!]
I bit my lip. I drew up my inner energy.
—Pajik. Pajijijik…!
Red lightning crackled from my body.
“Wh-what is this?!”
The Emei disciples beside me all stared at me with eyes full of shock. I drew a deep breath.
“Even if life is dogshit, I have never once abandoned being human!”
I poured every last scrap of my power into the shout.
“Jeokmaryeong!! I am right here!”
Kuuung!
Everything stopped. The black wave halted. Emei stopped. Zhongnan stopped. Even the Demon Cultists who had been carving them up stopped. In a battlefield quiet enough to die in, only the distant, fierce sounds of So Yeomgyo battling the Blood Cultists echoed from far behind.
“You?”
Jeokmaryeong stared blankly at me.
“You were over there?”
“Jeokmaryeong! Looking to disgrace yourself in front of your subordinates again, are you?!”
“Th-that bastard’s gone mad!”
The Demon Cultists were aghast. Jeokmaryeong gazed only at me as if time itself had frozen. I kept speaking without pause.
“Looks like that habit of yours needs a thorough correction! Hiding behind your brave subordinates and acting tough against the weak… yeah, you were exactly the same back then!”
I sucked in a breath and spat the final words straight into his face.
“You cowardly bastard!”
“Everyone.”
Jeokmaryeong raised a hand.
“Cease operations. Fall back behind me.”
“Yeomrangwang-nim!”
His subordinates urgently called his title. In the Heavenly Demon Cult, where absolute obedience was life itself, a question had been raised. That alone showed how far his words had gone.
“Have you forgotten the Vice Cult Leader’s orders?! Moreover, those Blood Cult bastards are already drooling and swarming this way! Even for Yeomrangwang-nim, we must secure the Guardian’s successor before those demon-like Blood Cultists arrive—!”
—Ppeot.
Jeokmaryeong flicked his fist through empty air. With that single gesture the upper half of the speaking Demon Cultist’s jaw vanished.
—Teolseok.
The man collapsed, twitching.
“I said fall back.”
“…!”
“Since when.”
White steam seemed to pour from the two eye holes of his white mask; his tone overflowed with killing intent.
“Did I, Yeomrangwang on the front lines, become someone who has to take insubordination? Don’t tell me you lot are looking down on me too? Are you saying that orthodox brat is right?”
There was no outcry. No violent reaction. Everyone froze in terror at his icy words.
—Cheojeok.
Everyone retreated. It had been a one-sided slaughter. Despite an overwhelmingly advantageous situation, the entire Heavenly Demon Cult force stopped fighting at Jeokmaryeong’s single word and withdrew. They all pulled back a set distance. Only Jeokmaryeong remained standing alone in the open space.
“Moyong Bi.”
Jeokmaryeong stood atop the Emei corpses and spread both hands.
“From long ago, whether orthodox, demonic, or unorthodox, I despised those who fell for provocations while leading a group. I called them creatures whose reason was worse than a rat’s, who couldn’t tell right from wrong, who had abandoned being human. But today, thanks to you, I learned something new.”
A pale light seeped from his white mask.
“That in this world, if you are human—and especially if you are a martial artist—there are provocations you have no choice but to take, even when you can see the obvious trap…”
Jeokmaryeong whispered,
“You will be recorded as the first person I ever killed not as a mission, but purely out of my personal feelings. I promise you that.”
—Cheolkeong.
The sword in his hand dropped.
“Remember what I said when we first met? I don’t like swords. Cutting someone’s throat is over too quickly. Especially between us… we don’t need swords. Forever. Right?”
“….”
—Cheolkeong.
I threw my sword away as well. I crossed the distance. There was no turning back now. Under this sky today, one of us would die.
The already ruined Emei disciples led their wounded and hesitantly withdrew behind me. Far away, So Yeomgyo was still fighting a desperate battle holding back the Blood Cultists. I had to finish this place quickly and help her. Otherwise everyone here would die.
Jeokmaryeong approached one step at a time.
“Back then there was Mount Hua’s Guardian. There’s some woman over there I don’t know, but… she doesn’t seem to be a Guardian.”
—Kuuung.
Violet and black true energy coiled up around his body.
Heavenly Demon Cult’s Heaven and Earth Great Shift.
Even without any particularly representative martial art of his own, it was the supreme technique that had raised Jeokmaryeong all the way to the seat of Yeomrangwang—the art that detonated every physical ability and latent potential.
“Now then, let’s enjoy this. Struggle all you want. It’ll end the same as last time, but this rat of Cheonsubaekryeonsa—”
I bit my lip.
—Kiiiing!
My crimson eyes blazed.
1st Rank — Heavenly Demon Cult Incomplete Heaven and Earth Great Shift, 2nd Stage!
—Uuuung… Kuuung!
The Heavenly Fire Hundred Ginseng and Heavenly Thunder Hundred Ginseng reacted.
“Don’t tell me…”
Jeokmaryeong’s words trailed off.
—Ppajik! Ppajijijik!
My entire body ground and wore away as I forcibly activated a martial art that did not fit it, sparks flying. Violet and crimson lightning and flames wrapped around me. At a glance it looked like a completely different art. But the one who had originally performed it—Jeokmaryeong—understood at a single glance what had happened. His pupils shook violently.
“How the hell do you know that martial art…”
The Heavenly Demon copies martial arts.