Absolute Regression

Chapter 655: Today, He Was Not the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult

The one who arrived at Azure Cloud Forest was the Hermit of Heaven and Earth.

He walked through the mist-shrouded bamboo grove. And the one waiting for him in a pavilion in the distance was Geom Mugeuk.

Leaning against the railing, Geom Mugeuk silently watched as the Hermit of Heaven and Earth walked toward him. When their eyes met, he gave a cheerful wave.

Geom Mugeuk did not postpone the match between them.

‘Today, I’ll kill him!’

There had never been an easy opponent among those he had faced until now, but this Hermit of Heaven and Earth was especially troublesome.

He could not gauge the full extent of his true abilities, nor could he be sure who might suddenly leap in to aid him.

Azure Cloud Forest.

This was the stage Geom Mugeuk had chosen.

Since it was the favorite place of Martial Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon, he thought it was the most suitable location for the final battle with the Hermit of Heaven and Earth.

There was also a more practical reason.

The mist that flowed through Azure Cloud Forest all year round.

Within that mist today, a particular formation had been set up.

Cloud and Mist Concealment Formation.

Originally, the Cloud and Mist Concealment Formation was designed to hide people within mist as it rose, making them invisible. Once activated, no matter how skilled an expert was, unless they knew the method to break it, they could not find the person hidden inside.

Moreover, when it unfolded within natural mist, even formation experts were said to be unable to tell whether it was real mist or a formation at work. It was one of the highest-grade formations possessed by the Martial Alliance.

Right now, within the mist-covered Cloud and Mist Concealment Formation stood Jin Paecheon. Thanks to this location and the formation, Geom Mugeuk was able to create this stage without revealing the existence of the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique.

This stage was the most crucial one that would determine everyone’s fate, and Jin Paecheon was its most important spectator.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth stepped onto the pavilion. After exchanging greetings, Geom Mugeuk admired the view before them.

“I can see why the Alliance Leader likes this place. The mist drifting between the bamboo is truly enchanting.”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth silently watched Geom Mugeuk, who was looking outwards. Though he stood with his back turned, there was not a single opening to be found.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth lifted a hand and touched the empty air. He could not see it, but he could feel it—the energy Geom Mugeuk had spread out like a spider’s web.

Even with his back turned, the Young Cult Leader had completely dominated both him and the space. And he made no effort to hide it.

The heat that flickered in the Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s eyes vanished the moment Geom Mugeuk turned to look.

“Our dear Hermit, welcome!”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth stepped forward a few paces, then stood side by side with Geom Mugeuk, gazing at the bamboo forest.

“The mist is thicker than usual today.”

Since it sounded as if he had been here often, Geom Mugeuk asked him,

“Have you been here before?”

“I come here from time to time. It’s a place my friend likes.”

The two of them addressed each other calmly, as though they had long forgotten the tension of their first meeting.

“Aren’t you going to ask? Why the Alliance Leader isn’t here, and I am instead?”

Today’s meeting had been arranged because Jin Paecheon had asked the Hermit of Heaven and Earth to meet.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth merely wore an expression that said, ‘There’s no need to ask, it’s obvious,’ without speaking a word.

“I asked the Alliance Leader to let me meet you. Last time, you were so firm when you said there wouldn’t be a next time.”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth turned his gaze toward Geom Mugeuk.

“You didn’t call me here to kill me, did you?”

His tone and look were as if to say he had already expected as much but had come anyway.

“If that were the case, would you have come? You came because you judged it wasn’t so, didn’t you?”

From the Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s reaction, Geom Mugeuk could tell he had anticipated finding him here in the Alliance Leader’s stead. If so, though the invitation had come from his side, this stage was his stage as well.

Their shared stage.

‘What have you prepared for this stage?’

Whose preparations were more thorough would determine who could walk away alive from this place.

“Even if you were going to kill me, I would still come.”

“You’d come even to die? Why?”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth replied calmly,

“Because my friend called me.”

There was a faint emptiness and loneliness in his gaze.

Had Geom Mugeuk not seen his true self within the Temporal and Spatial Transference Technique, he might have been uncertain even now. That was how sincerely he was speaking.

“If that friend told me to die, I could die.”

It was something that would sadden Jin Paecheon if he heard it. In truth, he was likely watching this scene now with a heavy heart.

“That’s impressive. If Hagun tried to kill me, I wouldn’t be so willing to die.”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s eyes glinted coldly.

“That’s because you didn’t share friendship—you tried to use Great Leader Jin.”

He spoke as if for someone else’s ears, touching upon public rumor.

“When I heard the rumor that the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult was getting close to the Leader of the Demon-Slaying Brigade to build rapport, I already guessed your intentions—to use familial bonds to ensnare Alliance Leader Jin.”

Geom Mugeuk accepted the words with composure.

“That’s underestimating your friend far too much. The Alliance Leader isn’t someone who would fall into a scheme so easily.”

“That’s why you tried to use his family instead.”

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth continued to dig into this point.

“I also know you approached Lady Haryeong, not just the Leader of the Demon-Slaying Brigade. Can you still claim you had no ulterior motive? What exactly is your goal?”

Hearing only those words would make him seem like a complete villain.

This was why this fight was so troublesome and difficult—because the man before him was one who would thoroughly exploit even such details.

“As you know, my goal is to reveal our Hermit’s true identity.”

“How laughable. For the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult to come to Wuhan and claim he’s here to expose the identity of a man who’s lived as an orthodox faction member for decades… Even a dog passing by would laugh.”

“There’s no passing dog, so I’ll laugh for you.”

Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly, but hidden within that ease was a blade.

“With only the two of us here, is there really a need to hide your identity to this extent?”

“I’ll say it again—I have no identity to hide.”

Geom Mugeuk posed the question he knew the other man would be most curious about.

“Why don’t you ask? Why I called you the embodiment of vengeance.”

One would expect some reaction to those words. Yet, he showed no curiosity at all.

“Vengeance? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Perching on the railing, Geom Mugeuk spoke as if musing to himself, like a man working through a deduction.

“You lost your composure when you heard that before. So why hide your identity this much, even when we’re alone?”

Geom Mugeuk already knew the answer.

“You know, don’t you, what kind of meeting this is.”

He did not miss the brief flash of sharp light in the Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s eyes.

He knew there was a spectator to this stage.

And he knew that spectator was Jin Paecheon.

That was why he picked only the words that could shake the Alliance Leader’s heart.

“You used blood ties and all manner of talk to beguile him, but it won’t work on me. I will protect my friend to the very end.”

Geom Mugeuk understood. Words would never move this man.

And if he knew Jin Paecheon was watching, then even more so.

It was now time to cast a different kind of winning move—one not made of words.

His gaze chilled, revealing a completely different atmosphere from before.

“It doesn’t matter. I can still make you reveal your identity.”

This time, even the Hermit of Heaven and Earth reacted. His eyes asked, You? How?

“There was the fastest, most certain way… but for one reason, I couldn’t use it.”

That reason had to do with Jin Paecheon.

“To use it, I’d have to get the Alliance Leader’s permission.”

“What kind of permission?”

Geom Mugeuk’s eyes turned cold.

“Permission to kill you.”

The moment he spoke, qi erupted from Geom Mugeuk’s body.

The next instant, the Hermit of Heaven and Earth realized he was standing in the blue sky.

Of course, it wasn’t truly the sky—it was above the sea. So clear was the water that the heavens reflected perfectly, making it feel as though he stood upon the sky itself, within the qi of Geom Mugeuk.

The qi was different from before.

The sea was even clearer. And beneath his feet, the endless abyss was even deeper and darker.

Splash—

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth plunged into the sea.

An unseen force seized him and dragged him deep into the ocean.

His breath caught—too powerful to be the qi of an ordinary person.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth released his own qi.

His qi began to push back against Geom Mugeuk’s.

The darkness of the abyss around him brightened.

Around him appeared white snow swirling over a pure, snowy plain.

Then it darkened again.

Pressed down once more by Geom Mugeuk’s qi, he was dragged back into the deep sea.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth drew on more of his inner power, releasing even stronger qi. Again, the space around him brightened—and again, it darkened.

Like a lantern flickering on and off, light and shadow alternated.

Each time it brightened, the blizzard roared even fiercer, and the solitary flower blooming there seemed ever more precarious.

From darkness to light, then back to darkness, and then to light again.

It was at that moment—

Shiiiiiik!

A sword suddenly shot toward the Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s eyes.

Craack!

He shattered the pavilion railing and leapt back to evade the blade. Geom Mugeuk, who had been locked in a battle of qi with him, had launched a surprise attack.

Standing at the edge of the pavilion, sword in hand, Geom Mugeuk looked down at him with a chilling gaze.

“If you don’t reveal your true qi, you’ll die by my hand.”

Even at Geom Mugeuk’s warning, the Hermit of Heaven and Earth showed no fear. Instead, a smile curved his lips.

“Will you really be able to clean up the aftermath?”

“Since when have the Demonic Cult’s lot ever worried about the aftermath before acting?”

Shiiiiiik—

Geom Mugeuk sprang from the pavilion, flying straight toward him.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth did not evade. Instead, he drew his sword and met the charge head-on.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Blade clashed against blade, each collision bursting with sparks and the harsh sound of steel striking steel.

In an instant, more than a dozen exchanges passed.

Shiiik!

He barely avoided the last, unexpected strike. Had it landed, his neck would have been severed. The killing intent in Geom Mugeuk’s sword was genuine.

“I told you before—someone like you, it’s not a bad idea to kill first and worry about the aftermath later.”

Geom Mugeuk’s swordsmanship was neither the Nine Calamities Demon Art nor the Soaring Sword Art. It was simply stabbing and cutting—but within those simple motions lay his martial mastery.

Freed from set forms, his attacks were blindingly fast and razor-sharp. The strength born of that freedom was on full display in this moment.

Pah-at!

Blood sprayed from the Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s arm. Though he was nearly as famous as the Alliance Leader, it was not because he was as strong as him. He was renowned because he was Jin Paecheon’s friend—and because he was a great hero.

He could not withstand the fierce momentum with which Geom Mugeuk pressed the attack—

a momentum that felt as if it truly intended to kill him.

Even when cornered, he did not reveal his true self.

He had one certainty.

‘You will never be able to kill me!’

Indeed, just as Geom Mugeuk suspected, the Hermit of Heaven and Earth had perfectly grasped what kind of stage this was today.

‘Because you have to show my true identity to Jin Paecheon. The more you, a Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult, try to kill me—an orthodox master—the more his doubts will grow.’

With every drop of blood he shed, the suspicion toward the Young Cult Leader would deepen.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth was certain of it.

And Geom Mugeuk was certain of something too.

‘You will reveal your true self, without fail.’

Because there was no way he would want to die pointlessly here.

After enduring for decades, there was no way he would allow himself such a meaningless end.

Shiiiiiik!

Geom Mugeuk’s sword flew toward his throat.

The Hermit of Heaven and Earth did not evade.

‘In the end, you’ll stop.’

Because he would never actually kill him.

It was like two carriages charging headlong toward one another—

each utterly convinced the other would pull the reins at the last moment, neither slowing their gallop.

Dududududududu—

And at the final instant, one of the two pulled the reins and swerved aside.

Kaaaang!

A piercing screech of steel tore the air.

Geom Mugeuk was flung back, forced to retreat.

At the last moment, the Hermit of Heaven and Earth had swung his sword in a counterattack—

and that strike was faster and stronger than anything he had shown so far.

Until the final heartbeat, Geom Mugeuk had not withdrawn his blade—not because he truly meant to kill, but because he believed without question that the other would dodge or deflect.

No matter how strong the Hermit of Heaven and Earth’s will was, there was something that could betray it.

And that was the instinct to survive.

A master of such caliber would choose survival over will, just as the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Technique would never stand idly by while its user sought death.

But in the place where the Hermit of Heaven and Earth had been standing, another man now stood.

It was the same person—yet he was exuding completely different qi.

He was Hwa Yulcheong.

The moment he fully revealed himself, his presence was incomparable to before.

He stood in the very center of a battlefield.

Instead of drifting snow, ashes from burned corpses swirled around him.

His qi was different from the one seen that day at Humble Haven.

If the qi he had shown back then had been a war confined to one region, the qi now before their eyes was a war engulfing the entire Central Plains.

Blood flowed like rivers, and corpses were piled like mountains.

Amid it all, Hwa Yulcheong stood, his gaze burning hot like molten lava.

“You’re not going to step in, even when they’re trying to kill me?”

The one he addressed was not Geom Mugeuk. He spoke toward the mist.

From within the mist came a voice.

“I’ve decided to trust that fellow, not you.”

The owner of the voice was, of course, Jin Paecheon.

Perhaps because he had anticipated this all along, Hwa Yulcheong’s eyes showed no fear at Jin Paecheon’s appearance.

“You’d rather trust the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult than a friend of decades?”

His tone carried not regret or disappointment, but mockery and anger. After all, Jin Paecheon had already seen his true self.

Jin Paecheon’s voice drew closer and closer.

“That man—today, at least—is not the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”

Moments later, Jin Paecheon fully emerged from the mist.

“Today, he’s my grandson’s friend.”