Chapter 31: Mang Mountain Silver Mine Entrance
The rustling of leaves and the sharp bursts of movement echoed through the forest as the two men desperately flashed their forms toward the silver mine entrance at the edge of Mang Mountain. Their conversation continued amid the chaos.
"Jin-gwan, veer right. There's a mining village ahead."
"……Let's just keep going."
Dan-mok Jong-yeong swallowed a groan at those words. He knew exactly what they meant.
"Jin-gwan, that's……."
"The elders haven't arrived yet, and we can't stop it with our strength alone. But anywhere we turn from here leads straight to Chim-ju city proper. Don't you know the damage would be even greater?"
"Still……."
A moment ago, while heading to Chim-ju with the Bo-ta Mun group, they had chanced upon the mad demon. They charged in immediately, but soon realized the truth: five of them couldn't handle it.
In the end, they chose the next best option—splitting into two groups to lure it outside the city. But of all the luck, the mad demon had pursued them. After about fifteen minutes of flight, their breaths now came ragged to their chins, making further escape nearly impossible.
Dan-mok Jin-gwan's sharp, tense eyes twitched.
"I don't want to do this either! But right now, we need to steel our hearts."
"I know. But it's not some hamlet. There must be a few hundred people there."
In that instant, Dan-mok Jin-gwan's eyes flashed.
"That's exactly why we might be able to take him down."
Dan-mok Jong-yeong's eyes widened in shock.
"……You don't mean?"
"That bastard! He was called a great hero right up until his clan was nearly wiped out. If his sanity returns amid the slaughter, he'll definitely go berserk. Then we can claim the credit."
"……Jin-gwan, the village is all clustered together. Even that mad demon will slaughter at least forty or fifty. How could we……."
"Then what if we head to the city? You gonna pretend you don't care about the hundreds there?"
"……!"
He could see his friend wavering. Dan-mok Jin-gwan drove the wedge home.
"It's a sacrifice for the greater good. We have no reason to feel guilty……."
In that moment, a fierce wind sliced through the air.
Shwaaak! Paang!
Startled, their gazes whipped around just as illusory afterimages blurred their vision like phantoms. Their dizzying sightlines rang alarm bells in their minds. There was only one who could launch such an attack right now.
'When did he get here?!'
A sky-blue fist strike flashed from the onrusher. The lightning-like wave of inner energy crashed straight into them.
Saaak!
'Danger…….'
Thud! Pak!
"Kuhk!"
Thud!
In an instant, Dan-mok Jong-yeong's eyes bulged. It wasn't the demon.
'Wh-who is that?'
With a single cry of pain, his comrade Dan-mok Jin-gwan tumbled to the ground. His face drained of color, body limp. Harsh coughs brought up congealed blood, and a fishy metallic tang lingered at his lips. He seemed in no immediate danger of death, but the internal injuries were surely fatal.
But this wasn't the time to worry about his friend. As Dan-mok Jong-yeong hurriedly gathered his inner energy to respond, a wave of bewilderment hit first.
'Why?'
He'd ambushed them, so he expected the same for himself. Yet after crippling his peak-early comrade in just two strikes, the attacker approached slowly. If anything, that sent chills of ruthless terror through his mind.
The one who had shown the gap with movements too fast to see. No ally would do that.
Each approaching footfall raised the hairs on his body. His limbs froze solid. He couldn't even blink.
Instinct alone made him stagger back, squeezing words from his throat.
"Wh-who are you?"
In that instant, a graceful hand whipped through with an afterimage.
Sararak!
Dan-mok Jong-yeong had no chance to dodge or block. The moment he felt the hand brush past his face, his body knew the truth.
Pop! Papap! Pop!
'Pressure points!'
His meridian points were sealed. Then his blood points, and finally his breath points.
Questions filled his slowly closing eyes.
'Why?'
The one who had driven his comrade to the brink of death. Yet treating him like this?
Then, a transmission rang in his ear.
-I understand your sense of justice. And this is mine. Come question me anytime.
-……?
-My people are in that village.
-……!
As Dan-mok Jong-yeong's eyes glazed blankly and his body began to slump, his last shred of reason twisted bitterness onto his lips.
'He heard everything!'
No boiling rage—just a profound darkness swallowed his vision. Memories from the Maelma Dan flashed by like a lantern show.
'Was this what those years were for……? Heh heh heh!'
The times he'd marched forth under the banners of righteousness and heroism. The memories he'd planned to boast about proudly to his clan upon return.
But a single moment's hesitation had turned it all to bubbles. His eyes trembled pathetically as his knees buckled.
Thud! His chest clenched tight, eyes closing on their own.
No, right now, he just wanted to shut them fast. To forget the indescribable pain and emptiness crashing over him, that was best.
Mu Yun let out a low breath.
'Whew.'
Rushing to the silver mine, he'd spotted the mad demon chasing two warriors ahead. The warriors fleeing, demon in pursuit.
But as he charged to help, their conversation reached his ears. The decision came swiftly.
He shattered the dantian of the one urging the path to the village. Just knocked out the one trying to stop him.
And let them know his answer to their words and actions.
A brief bitterness rose, but now wasn't the time.
He had to chase the mad demon already heading to the village. He flashed his form forward.
Papap!
Meanwhile, some thirty-odd jang back on a hillock. Eun Wi-gyeong's eyes filled with doubt as he tracked the mad demon pursuing the Dan-mok warriors.
"Who's that? Looks like he's attacking the Dan-mok warriors."
"Might be with the demon. Let's go."
"Yes."
Shyik!
Jin Seo-yeon's brows furrowed as she led the way.
'He said he was alone.'
A man from a righteous faction whose family had been exterminated, choosing demonic arts himself for revenge. After a decade of seeking other paths and failing, he'd finally chosen that, or so she'd heard.
But if he had comrades following him here, there might be a bigger plot.
Jin Seo-yeon's eyes shook uneasily.
'I hope not.'
＊ ＊ ＊
Beyond the hill.
"Grrr! Gruk!"
The demon's eyes rolled white, his body caked in crusted blood. Savage roars poured from his gaping maw. Spotting Mu Yun, he licked his lips like he'd found tasty prey.
A flicker of pity crossed Mu Yun's eyes.
'Is that what he's become?'
The first time facing a demon like this. No guilt now for unleashing them on the world. As Yeo Hwi had said, and from what he'd learned, it was inevitable someday.
Sun Woo-jin had even kept the Soul Enticement Grass in check for a century, warning of its dangers and reducing harm overall.
The current bitterness stemmed from the demon's state. Those madness-filled eyes told the tale: a man who could never return to humanity.
The end result of abandoning himself.
Mu Yun set aside his thoughts. Only one task remained.
'Time to end it.'
Gathered inner energy enveloped his body. Whiiing!
Over the past two years, Mu Yun had set his own direction for the Sin-gi Sim-ui Gong.
'Seven Emotions!'
While Yeo Hwi chose no-mind, he chose with-mind. He decided to embrace all seven human emotions.
Yeo Hwi's no-mind had its with-mind underside. Without it, no-mind couldn't exist or be aware.
He'd cultivated containing all those emotions, yielding results. The worrisome joy, pleasure, and love had reached proper levels.
Help from others was key, but especially from So-ryeo, daughter of Yu-seon—now practically his own two-year-old girl. The world's most lovable child, bringing all three emotions at once.
Facing the mad demon now, he didn't force a specific emotion. Just drew what arose naturally in his heart.
Right now: anger and pity.
'End it quick.'
With that resolve in a majestic aura, he kicked off the ground.
Papap!
His arrow-like body hurtled at the demon.
As he closed in to unleash a straight fist—
"Karr! Grrrng!"
The pursuing demon hesitated. Doubt flickered in Mu Yun's eyes.
'Why?'
He'd openly released his full power to finish fast. Instinctual fear showed. But that wasn't all. Something felt different from before.
His face, once pure rage and savagery, twisted oddly.
Glancing around briefly, Mu Yun realized.
'That?'
No human emotion before. Just madness-born ferocity.
Yet now, unease and irritation mixed clearly with the fear.
'He still has reason?'
Instinct could include unease or irritation. But with murder-madness in his marrow, those weak feelings standing out over rage was hard to grasp.
And crucially, he wasn't charging first.
Mu Yun changed plans. Probe first.
'Test the surroundings.'
A murky gray hue gathered on his clenched fist. Emotions colored it: red or blue for anger, white for joy. Mixed, often gray like now.
He deliberately bumped his fist into the hesitating demon's forearm.
Thook!
Now the demon lunged wildly, fists flying in tandem.
Shuuuk!
"Gruk! Kaaak!"
Mu Yun sidestepped, luring the attacks instead of countering. The enraged demon's veins bulged, muscles swelled across his body. Relentless fists hammered Mu Yun's arm wall.
Papang! Kwaang! Thud!
Each punch boomed through the air. At least super peak fist strikes.
As he blocked the barrage, Mu Yun subtly stepped back.
Papap!
The charging demon froze in place.
He showed savagery instantly to attacks, but retreat brought back the irritation and displeasure.
'What is it?'
Mu Yun held position without advancing. The demon scanned around without approaching.
Mu Yun lunged again. The demon charged right back.
Pa-at!
Another step back, and the demon halted again.
Mu Yun tilted his head.
'Responds to attacks but hates facing me? Never heard of mad demons being picky.'
Then a memory surfaced: Yeo Hwi's words on fighting demons.
-My energy repels demons. Even at peak madness, they just trembled in fear. Feet frozen, easy to kill.
'The Sin-gi Sim-ui Gong?'
Easy to test. Mu Yun withdrew it, drawing his clan's secret Lone Soul Sword energy instead.
Wooong!
The demon charged instantly, face as ferocious as first seen from afar.
Papap!
Switch back to Sin-gi Sim-ui Gong, and it hesitated again.
After repeating several times, Mu Yun stepped back.
Alternating Seven Emotions energies confirmed it.
'Definitely reacting to the Sin-gi Sim-ui Gong energy.'
The reason clicked.
'Energy that stirs the heart—that's why.'
His expressions varied with different emotional energies. It revealed: brain lost to madness, but the heart retained human resonance, reacting to the heart-based Sin-gi Sim-ui Gong.
Yeo Hwi had only anger then, so demons showed only fear.
A bitter smile crossed Mu Yun's face as he sorted his thoughts.
'But that's it. No sign of returning.'
Maybe if the energy grew stronger later, but not now.
He pushed his whole body's energy to the limit. Quick end was best for everyone.
Wooong!
Mu Yun's fist cleaved a massive wind as chain attacks began.
Kwaang! Papap! Perpuk!
The demon's body shuddered under successive impacts. Bluish fists battered mercilessly.
Thud! Udook! Pakak!
Bones cracked with each motion. A face strike sprayed blood across the air.
Papap!
The demon's eyes glazed blankly, consciousness fading.
Mu Yun's gaze deepened.
'Last one.'
As he thrust full-powered energy at the abdomen, his eyes—watching the demon's—widened.
'The pupil!'
Where whites had filled, a black pupil now gleamed clearly.
He twisted direction, flashing back.
Whiiik!
Moments later, the demon's roaring maw trembled.
"……Why? Where is this?"
Mu Yun's eyes flashed.
'He's back.'
No need for the final blow; life was decided. Maybe fifteen minutes left at most.
But never heard of a mad demon regaining reason like this.
His puzzled gaze turned to the demon.
"……?"
The other's gaze held a different question.
"……?"
In the momentary silence, only wind rustling branches brushed their ears.