Chapter 47

The streets of Shufu began to be covered with Longevity Cult believers.

It had been several hours since my brief encounter with Ak Mu-jin.

In the end, it seemed Ak Mu-jin had decided to gather all his believers just as I had asked.

‘Good. That is how it should be.’

I nodded and spoke to Im Yeon.

“Shall we head out in about two hours as well.”

“Where do you mean?”

“The main compound of the Longevity Cult.”

“…Sorry?”

Im Yeon’s eyes went round.

“The atmosphere is strange already, so why would we go to a place like that…?”

“I told you earlier what happened.”

“You only said that you met the Longevity Cult Leader, had a brief fight, and agreed to meet again.”

“The place we agreed to meet is the Longevity Cult’s main compound.”

Im Yeon and the guards all opened and closed their mouths at the same time.

They had no idea what to even say.

“B-but are not all the Longevity Cult believers gathering there?”

“That is why we have to go. I told him to call them all together.”

“Ah… yes.”

Im Yeon closed her mouth as if at a loss for words.

Having gone through so many absurd things with me, she seemed to have decided it was faster to just accept it than ask any more questions.

About two hours passed like that.

Then Im Yeon and I left the inn with the others.

The streets were much quieter than before, since everyone heading to the Longevity Cult’s main compound had already gone.

I did not know how long we walked.

We arrived at a barren clearing on the outskirts of Shufu.

It was a place where a single tall altar stood alone, barely worthy of being called a main compound.

In this shabby place, a crowd that had to be at least in the thousands was packed together.

They were all Longevity Cult believers.

By this time darkness had begun to fall, so torches were lit here and there across the clearing.

In the wavering torchlight, a man appeared atop the altar.

He wore a bizarre mask on his face and a blue robe draped around him.

It was the Longevity Cult Leader, Ak Mu-jin.

“Uwooo! It is the Cult Leader!”

“Longevity! Longevity! Longevity!”

With his appearance, the thousands filling the clearing began shouting fanatically as if on cue.

Blind faith and fervor toward their cult leader filled the clearing.

When he raised his arms high, the boiling cries subsided as if it had all been a lie.

Cutting through that heavy silence, Ak Mu-jin began to speak in a booming voice.

“Believers who shall witness the age of Longevity! Our will reaches the heavens, and the might of the Longevity Cult grows by the day. As the Longevity God watches over us, who can possibly block the path of Longevity!”

“Ooooooh!”

“Longevity! Longevity!”

The believers roared in ecstasy.

With his arms spread, Ak Mu-jin savored their cries for a moment as if satisfied.

I was a little surprised.

It was because his voice was completely different from the one I had heard during the day.

No, it was not just his voice.

From his manner of speaking to his momentum, not one thing called to mind Ak Mu-jin’s true self.

I had known that Ak Mu-jin’s personality changed depending on whether he wore the mask, but I had not thought it would be to this extent.

“Today I received a revelation from the Longevity God. Even that arrogant Heavenly Demon Cult has begun to fear us! And so they have sent a filthy spy into our sacred cult!”

“What? A spy?”

In an instant, the crowd’s cheers turned to anger.

Pouring oil onto that anger, Ak Mu-jin spoke again.

“That spy is right here. Find the filthy fiend standing among you with a cunning smile upon its face!”

Ak Mu-jin’s words caused an immediate stir.

The believers all at once began searching for the spy.

“You. I have never seen your face before.”

“What nonsense. I have been living in Shufu for years. You are the one whose face I do not recognize.”

“I was born here, you fool!”

The clearing turned into pandemonium in an instant.

The believers suspected each other, argued, and even started scuffling.

I was not free of it either.

“You lot look really unfamiliar. Are you Longevity Cult believers?”

Someone asked as they scanned me and the others with Im Yeon.

Smiling faintly, I answered.

“No.”

“Then what are you?”

“The Heavenly Demon Cult.”

At that moment, shouts burst out from all sides.

“Found him! The spy is here!”

“The Cult Leader was right! Grab him!”

“How dare a Demon Cult rat show up here of all places?”

In the deadly mood, Im Yeon and the bodyguards all drew their weapons at once.

Seeing the cold gleam of steel, the believers flinched.

“Will you move aside? I have business with your Cult Leader.”

“Silence! You think we will just send a dangerous spy up to the Cult Leader!”

“I have already spoken with your Cult Leader. All you have to do is step aside.”

“We cannot believe that!”

The believers were bristling with killing intent.

Swallowing dryly, Im Yeon spoke.

“W-we will protect you with our lives if we must, Young Lord.”

It was a touching declaration, but there was no real need for it.

Ak Mu-jin had spotted us.

“The spy has shown himself! Open a path to me! As the apostle of the Longevity God, I shall personally pass judgment and display the Longevity God’s majesty!”

Just as we had discussed beforehand, Ak Mu-jin intended to face me personally.

He must have many questions for me.

“Grr.”

“Those bastards deserve to be beaten to death.”

I walked leisurely along the path the Longevity Cult believers reluctantly opened.

Murderous glares and curses poured at me from all around, but they did not bother me at all.

In my previous life, I had been the one who went alone to meet the Heavenly Demon who had killed the Ten Great Masters of the world and piled thousands of corpses into a mountain.

You think something like this would make me shrink back?

“Let us go up.”

“Y-yes.”

We reached the end of the path.

One step, and another.

We climbed the altar.

At the center of the altar stood Ak Mu-jin in his mask.

Behind him stood a dozen or so experts like a folding screen, each one’s aura rivaling Im Yeon’s.

However, their condition was peculiar.

One was missing an arm, another a leg, and one had only a single eye remaining.

I recognized it at once.

These men were one of the driving forces that kept Ak Mu-jin moving.

Ak Mu-jin raised his hand and swept his gaze over the believers below the altar.

“How is it, pitiful whelp. I called together all the believers just as you requested. Why did you want this situation?”

“To take off your mask.”

The mission given to me was to subjugate the Heretical Cult.

The easiest way to achieve that was to shatter the mask of the cult leader, Ak Mu-jin.

‘And there is one more thing.’

I did not know if it would work, but I had a far grander plan.

If that plan succeeded, life in the Demon Cult would go smoothly for some time.

Ak Mu-jin spoke.

“Once worn, this mask is not taken off so easily. The Longevity God does not wish it!”

“You really talk like a proper heretical cult leader.”

“I am a true cult leader. Behold the influence I have built!”

Ak Mu-jin threw both arms up toward the believers.

In response, a roar erupted as if it might tear the sky away.

“Have you seen?”

The eyes visible through the mask’s holes gleamed triumphantly.

As if he felt infinite pride in the Longevity Cult he had created.

But for some reason.

I did not think he looked happy at all.

“You look like you are suffering.”

“Suffering? Me?”

“Yes. You are living in hell.”

“…!”

Seeing Ak Mu-jin’s trembling eyes, I grew certain once more.

All that talk about the Longevity God and the spread of the cult meant nothing.

Ak Mu-jin was still living in hell.

“You will not accomplish anything this way.”

Perhaps unwilling to admit it, he snorted.

“You act as if you know everything.”

“I know enough. Things like why you founded the Longevity Cult.”

“The Longevity Cult was not created by me. The Longevity God created it, borrowing my body.”

“How about we stop playing cult leader now?”

“Playing cult leader? Watch your tongue. You anger the Longevity God. Confess your identity before He grows even more wrathful.”

“The Longevity God is curious about my identity?”

“He is!”

“Baek Su-gyeong. The Heavenly Demon’s seventh disciple.”

I gave a small laugh and put force into my voice.

My answer sent a massive ripple through those below the altar.

Murmurs spread here and there.

“A brat like that is a disciple of the Heavenly Demon?”

“As far as I know the Heavenly Demon only has six disciples.”

Seeing their disbelief, I sneered.

“Looks like the Longevity God is not very capable. He did not even tell you the Heavenly Demon has a new disciple.”

Ak Mu-jin did not answer.

Instead, he suddenly threw both hands up and shouted.

“This spy is a disciple of the Heavenly Demon! The Heavenly Demon has sent his disciple because he fears the existence of the Longevity Cult!”

“The Heavenly Demon sent a disciple to keep us in check? Uwaaaa!”

I clicked my tongue.

The moment he heard who I was, he used it as a way to increase the unity of his believers.

To me, who knew his true aim, it felt like a wretched kind of madness.

“Guard Im.”

“Yes, Young Lord.”

“Shout louder than the Longevity Cult Leader. Say that the Heavenly Demon sent his precious disciple to subjugate the Longevity Cult.”

“…His precious disciple, you mean?”

“You heard me correctly.”

Tilting her head slightly, Im Yeon then raised her voice with internal energy.

“The Heavenly Demon has sent the noble Seventh Young Lord in order to subjugate the Longevity Cult!”

“Subjugate our Longevity Cult? That brat? Hahaha!”

“We should sew up that mouth for spouting such nonsense!”

Scorn and anger burst out from all sides.

Ak Mu-jin snorted.

He must have thought I had made a blunder, needlessly provoking the crowd.

“Guard Im, add a few more lines. Say that another disciple is coming with a terrifying force in tow. Tell them to be afraid.”

“Surely that disciple is…”

That is right, Heuk Un-hwi.

If not at a time like this, when else would I make use of that man?

“T-the Heavenly Demon has also sent his fierce and brutal Fourth Disciple together with a terrifying force! S-so tremble in fear!”

“These bastards!”

“Cult Leader! Please kill them at once!”

“Kill them! Kill them!”

At their explosive reaction, I smiled in satisfaction.

The more worked up they became, the closer the mission would be to success.

Looking at me smiling, Ak Mu-jin spoke.

“You are provoking them on purpose. Do not insult my believers.”

“Do not pretend to worry about them. They are people you plan to have die with you anyway.”

“…!”

The Longevity Cult that Ak Mu-jin had built up over the years was nothing but a tool.

A tool to burn away gloriously together with him.

The reason was the bone-deep grudge Ak Mu-jin bore against the Demon Cult.

“Do you know how I obtained the Ghost-Face Token?”

The Ghost-Face Token.

It referred to the identity token I had thrown to him earlier.

“I told the Ghost-Face Unit Leader that I knew what you were trying to do. So he gave it to me. He asked me to stop you.”

The Ghost-Face Unit Leader had a close relationship with Ak Mu-jin.

Because of that, when he received the subjugation order, he deliberately lost and pretended to be injured, resting at home.

The reason was this.

“Former Ghost-Face Unit Leader Ak Mu-jin. Put an end to this futile idea here and disband the Longevity Cult. Then things will be all right.”

“Who are you calling former Unit Leader? I am the Longevity Cult Leader! Blessed with the Longevity God’s revelation—”

“It was three years ago, was it not? When you were betrayed.”

For a moment, Ak Mu-jin’s body shook like an aspen tree.

It was because memories he did not want to recall had risen up.

“You set out on a certain mission with your subordinates. But it was a trap. It was a scheme the Elder Council Lord devised to eliminate you.”

The Elder Council Lord was a man who would do anything for his own power.

At the time, due to internal circumstances, Ak Mu-jin had been a thorn in his side.

“You and a handful of the Ghost-Face Unit members barely survived. You ran back toward the main cult, not even tending your wounds, to meet the Elder Council Lord. But on the road back to the Demon Cult, an elite force he had sent was already waiting.”

Ak Mu-jin squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.

The eyes visible beneath the mask rippled with hatred.

“Cheol-san, Nak-yeong, So-jin, Bi-ho, Woon… they were all ones who should have lived long. So-jin was the mother of a two-year-old child, and Woon was a youngster who had just passed twenty. They all died caught in that damned scheme! That old fox, the Elder Council Lord, deceived me and drove me into a death trap!”

“I know. That is why every day you force down noodles you do not even want to eat. Five bowls of them.”

Five bowls of noodles.

They were Ak Mu-jin’s own way of mourning the subordinates he had lost unjustly.

When Myeong-ah told me about the noodles, this was exactly what had come to mind.

There had been five victims in the incident that set Ak Mu-jin on the path to becoming the Longevity Cult Leader.

And the dozen masked men standing behind him were the subordinates who had survived that ordeal.

“You hid your identity and created the Longevity Cult to take revenge on the Elder Council Lord.”

However, better than anyone, Ak Mu-jin knew that it was impossible.

To reach the Elder Council Lord, he would have to cross the Divine Demon Gate and get all the way to the Demon Cult’s main compound, and there was no way that could be done.

Even if the Murim Alliance and the Heretical Alliance joined forces, they could not do it.

So Ak Mu-jin made a futile resolve.

If he threw in thousands, tens of thousands of lives, would the Demon Cult not at least give some response?

Would the Elder Council Lord’s misdeeds not be exposed?

Sadly, that was not the case.

“I guarantee you, the Elder Council Lord will not even blink.”

In my previous life, that was exactly how it had been.

The Longevity Cult clashed with the Demon Cult and was annihilated.

Without leaving behind any meaning or enlightenment.

“……”

The pupils staring at me shook wildly.

What was he thinking right now?

I could easily guess, but I waited quietly for his words.

Soon, Ak Mu-jin raised both arms high.

“Watch closely, all of you! I shall offer the Heavenly Demon’s disciple as a sacrifice to the Longevity God!”

So he was going to come out like this after all?

I drew the cold-iron dagger I had kept hidden beneath my cloak and spoke to Im Yeon.

“Tell the believers this. That from now on, I will utterly shatter what they have believed in.”

“Yes!”

While Im Yeon shouted toward the believers, I added one more line to Ak Mu-jin.

“Just wait. I will smash that mask of yours to pieces soon.”