Rescue the Eldest Senior Brother! (2)
Ga Jinuk, the Brilliant Light Demon Sword, and the Flash Light Demon Sword Squad had been confined here half by choice, half by force. Guiding the way to the underground prison fell to Gu Jinak.
Normally, reaching them required a key to open the entrance to the underground prison.
Clink!
Gu Jinak rummaged through the unconscious Gong Jinwol's robes and found the key.
Gong Jinwol wasn't in charge of the underground prison, but as someone handling various major and minor affairs within the Blood Dragon Room, he had one on him.
Click!
Gu Jinak didn't hesitate.
He had even witnessed Gong Jinwol—a member of the Blood Dragon Room—collapse, yet his resolve didn't waver.
On the contrary, his only thought was to rescue Ga Jinuk as quickly as possible.
How far had they descended into the depths?
"Who goes there?"
A voice echoed from the far underground reaches.
The moment they heard it, Gu Jinak and Hyeon Yucheon—along with everyone else—knew instinctively.
'It's Eldest Senior Brother's voice, no doubt!'
Even Eum Ji-myeong couldn't stop his heart from pounding fiercely.
"Great Hero Ga, it's your humble Gu Jinak."
Unaware of their emotions—or pretending to be—Gu Jinak forced a calm tone.
"Jinak... You're not yourself. I sense many presences behind you?"
As expected.
Ga Jinuk was a true master.
Even from a distance, beyond visual range, he instantly detected the group—and the ominous atmosphere hanging over them.
"We've brought guests to see you, Great Hero Ga."
"Me?"
Ga Jinuk tilted his head at Gu Jinak's unusual words.
Then—
He flinched!
Sensing something, his body trembled violently.
'Could it be them?'
But the thought passed quickly.
'No. The Demon Sword Sect wouldn't come. I heard they've fallen into ruin since I and the Flash Light Demon Sword Squad left.'
How could they infiltrate the heart of enemy territory, deep into the Blood Dragon Room's underground prison?
Even if they came, it would only make sense if the Demon Sword Sect had been destroyed and they were dragged here by force.
"Eldest Senior Brother, don't you recognize this junior brother's voice?"
With Ga Jinuk's voice confirmed, Eum Ji-myeong shouted.
His voice quivered at the end.
"...Uh, Second Junior Brother?"
Ga Jinuk could hardly believe his ears.
He'd thought he'd never hear that voice again in his lifetime.
Once his lifelong rival and competitor.
That voice was now joyously welcome.
"Eldest Senior Brother, how could you leave without a single word to me!"
Eum Ji-myeong had imagined treating him kindly after all his hardships, but the words came out sharp.
"Junior Brother, I..."
"I know everything. That you did it to save our Demon Sword Sect. But... do you have any idea how much anguish and suffering you left behind?"
"..."
Ga Jinuk couldn't refute Eum Ji-myeong's words. He fell silent, throat tight with emotion.
"Just a moment... I'll light a fire."
Hyeon Yucheon had watched their exchange calmly.
Flames erupted fiercely.
Without prepared torches, he'd made fire with his own hands.
Now, with the flames rising, they could finally make out each other's faces.
Ga Jinuk—unkempt after years without proper care, looking like a Beggars' Sect mendicant—stared ahead.
"And who are you?"
Ga Jinuk eyed Hyeon Yucheon, who had ignited the flames, then spotted astonishing faces behind him. He recoiled in shock.
"Th-the Black Wolf Three Swords!"
Who were the Black Wolf Three Swords?
Men who had sworn fierce loyalty solely to the Demon Sword Ghost Lord Cheon Baeksang, outshining even the Demon Sword Sect itself.
To see them behind not Eum Ji-myeong, but some unfamiliar youth? Ga Jinuk was stunned.
Hyeon Yucheon smiled faintly and spoke calmly.
"Allow me a proper introduction. I am Hyeon Yucheon, current lord of the Demon Sword Sect and inheritor of Master's entire legacy."
"What?! Sect Lord? Master's disciple?!"
The revelations grew more shocking with each word.
A mere boy as Demon Sword Sect Lord? And a new disciple, no less.
Incredible—but hard to deny.
"Senior Brother, what our youngest junior brother says is true."
"We Black Wolf Three Swords vouch for him."
"He's telling the truth."
Not just Eum Ji-myeong and the Black Wolf Three Swords.
"Great Hero Ga, regrettably, I didn't win at the Black Heaven Assembly. Why? Because... I encountered that Demon Sword Young Master Hyeon Yucheon, our sect lord, midway."
Even Gu Jinak—the one closest to him in the Blood Dragon Room—confirmed it unwaveringly. Ga Jinuk had no choice but to believe.
"Is that... really true?"
Hyeon Yucheon offered no emphatic proof or lengthy explanations.
He simply asked one question.
"That night Master trained alone, the vile Heaven's Five Venerables ambushed him with a coordinated assault. I ask you seriously, Eldest Senior Brother: Did you betray Master and aid them?"
Amid the shocks piling up, the revelation that Master had been ambushed by the Heaven's Five Venerables froze Ga Jinuk on the spot.
"Wh-what?!"
Gu Jinak was equally stunned.
The common tale was that the Demon Sword Ghost Lord had simply vanished.
Unorthodox murim wasn't foolish; they suspected Murim Alliance and the Nine Great Sects' involvement.
But hearing the truth from his full successor? Shocking.
"Heaven's Five Venerables... I see. So that's what happened."
Ga Jinuk, dazed by the news, met Hyeon Yucheon's piercing gaze.
'Those eyes... just like Master's.'
With that thought, he spoke slowly.
"I swear it here and now. I never betrayed Master. My only sin against him and the Demon Sword Sect... was misjudging the situation and leading the Flash Light Demon Sword Squad to the Blood Dragon Room."
Ga Jinuk's eyes burned with sincerity.
His intentions had been pure: revive the sect by inheriting everything from the Blood Dragon Room.
"Do you swear it?"
Hyeon Yucheon drew forth the Demon Sword Sect Lord's symbol—the Black Iron Wooden Sword Plaque—and asked.
Thud!
Facing the sacred relic—once Master's own symbol—Ga Jinuk dropped to one knee and clasped his hands in formal salute.
"I stake everything on this oath before the Black Iron Wooden Sword Plaque. That night, I did not betray Master."
No room for doubt now.
Truth be told, Hyeon Yucheon had sensed it the moment they met.
'I knew it wasn't Eldest Senior Brother.'
Only one answer remained.
The third disciple—Master's then-youngest, Hyeon Yucheon's senior—the Jade-Faced Sword Lord Cho Jeong-ryong.
"..."
Eum Ji-myeong closed his eyes, the truth clear. He pictured Cho Jeong-ryong.
Perfectly handsome, with pearly whites and a wrinkle-free face. Bright personality, unmatched sword insight. Among the three disciples, his innate martial talent was unparalleled.
"If not you two, then the answer's clear. Third Senior Brother—no, that bastard. He vanished without a trace, didn't he?"
Nod.
Eum Ji-myeong nodded silently.
After Master's disappearance and Ga Jinuk's departure with the Flash Light Demon Sword Squad, Cho Jeong-ryong had slipped away unnoticed.
Worse: he'd looted every last coin and asset from the crumbling Demon Sword Sect. The betrayal stung deepest.
'Jade-Faced Sword Lord Cho Jeong-ryong!'
Just as fury solidified with Master's betrayer identified—
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted from outside the underground prison.
What happened? Apparently, the fainted Gong Jinwol had called for reinforcements.
Hyeon Yucheon's plan had been to swiftly relocate Ga Jinuk for safe talks—but they'd grown careless.
"Junior Brother—no, Sect Lord! Escape now! The Blood Dragon Room warriors are truly formidable!"
In the crisis, Ga Jinuk fretted over his newly met junior—the current sect lord—despite lingering doubts about his lineage. But his priority was the Demon Sword Sect Lord title.
'Even if it costs my life, I'll protect the sect lord.'
Ga Jinuk clenched his fists, resolve firm.
Time away hadn't dulled his loyalty.
That was Ga Jinuk.
"You filthy Demon Sword Sect vermin!"
As predicted.
Gong Jinwol—rear scalp swollen—growled, flanked by the Blood Dragon Room's elite, the Mad Blood Squad.
"Truly astonishing. To think our room's strongest late-generation talent—next room lord in all but name, the Blood Dragon Ghost Sword—would betray us."
Beside Gong Jinwol loomed Jeong Won, Mad Blood Squad Captain and peak realm expert, the Mad Blood Berserker, his massive frame imposing.
"Grr, the Mad Blood Squad and their captain..."
Years half-imprisoned in the Blood Dragon Room had made Ga Jinuk intimately familiar with their forces. The Mad Blood Squad consisted entirely of first-rate masters or better. But most fearsome: Jeong Won.
'Even among the Blood Dragon Room's masters, he's top three.'
Ga Jinuk himself couldn't guarantee victory if off-form.
Worse: the Flash Light Demon Sword Squad—meant to bolster the sect lord—were absent.
"Unlike me, with some freedom near the prison entrance... the Flash Light Demon Sword Squad is deep underground, movements restricted. They can't help."
Ga Jinuk expressed his regret helplessly.
Even with the Black Wolf Three Swords and Eum Ji-myeong, the Mad Blood Squad numbered over two hundred. Victory seemed impossible.
In his mind, Eum Ji-myeong—once weaker than him—was no peak expert, nor was this mysterious youth Hyeon Yucheon beyond peak at best.
He and the Black Wolf Three Swords would have to win—only for the Blood Dragon Room Lord to await behind them.
'Still powerless, useless as ever.'
Ga Jinuk teetered toward despair once more.
"Senior Brother, the sect lord... our youngest junior brother is strong."
Eum Ji-myeong added the missing piece.
"Just like Master!"
As his words ended, Hyeon Yucheon unleashed his full inner power.
An indescribably ferocious energy enveloped the underground prison beneath the Blood Dragon Room's cliffside.
And that was just the beginning.
Rumble, rrrumble!
At full power, Hyeon Yucheon resembled a natural disaster.
The entire Blood Dragon Room trembled violently, as if the ground itself wailed in agony.
The mad shaking seemed to foretell the faction's grim future.