Chapter 31

Ban-Cheon Ghost (1)

A blade hidden behind a smile .

The two men, each harboring different thoughts, faced one another.

'After the Ban-Cheon Ghosts… you're next.'

The killing intent directed at the Lord of the Black Market was concealed behind a smile.

"So then, what will you do?"

"Well now. I still lack faith in the eldest young master."

"And so?"

"Neutrality."

From the beginning, Cheon Muyang had never needed the Lord of the Black Market's support, so he nodded.

"Let's do that."

"Thank you for understanding."

"By the way, who else knows that I came here?"

"I came out secretly. Who would know?"

"I see. Take care on your way."

"Let's meet again."

"If we can."

It was a meaningful remark.

Feigning ignorance, Cheon Muyang rose from his seat and stepped outside.

The man who had guided him here appeared again.

"Please follow me."

"Hm."

As if familiar with it, Cheon Muyang followed behind him along the formation's Gate of Life.

But then—

Halt!

Cheon Muyang stopped in his tracks.

"W-why are you stopping?"

"That path—are you sure it's the Gate of Life?"

"Pardon?"

Cheon Muyang smiled as he spoke.

"I can see another scheme at work."

"Th-that's nonsense… This is definitely the Gate of Life."

The arm he spoke with such confidence was severed in an instant.

Thud!

The arm fell to the ground.

His eyes widened as he stared at it in disbelief.

"Ah?"

Slash.

In the next moment, his head was cut off.

A death so sudden he never even had the chance to close his eyes.

Watching the man fail to comprehend his own death even after being beheaded, Cheon Muyang clicked his tongue.

"Tsk."

He looked at the formation now blatantly filled with killing intent and clicked his tongue again.

"So you're showing your hand already?"

The path leading back to the Lord of the Black Market had long since been sealed.

There was no exit anymore.

"Since it's come to this, I won't be satisfied until I see what dirty secrets you're hiding."

He wanted to see them.

And so, Cheon Muyang walked toward the most dangerous path—

The Gate of Death.

Whoooong!

The formation shifted moment by moment.

At times, a storm raged so fiercely that nothing could be seen an inch ahead.

At others, a freezing blizzard howled, chilling bones to the core.

'What are you hiding?'

There was only one reason to deploy such a grand killing formation—

To conceal something.

'Show me.'

Within the dizzying formation, where even direction could not be discerned, Cheon Muyang pressed forward without pause.

Whoong!

Using the sword's hum as his guide, Cheon Muyang was never led astray by the formation.

It was Cheongwang's ability.

Illusions could not confuse him.

'Ban-Cheon Ghosts… perhaps there are those among them who have joined hands with the Demonic Cult.'

They would not truly begin to run rampant until ten years from now.

'This is the only chance.'

He thought that now—if only now—even if they had joined hands with the Demonic Cult, it might still be possible to save them.

Halt.

At the point where the blizzard ended—

Cheon Muyang stood still.

With eyes that pierced the true intent of the formation, he surveyed his surroundings.

'It's vicious, but in the end, a formation is still a formation. Its limits are clear.'

A formation was ultimately an artificial manipulation layered atop natural flow.

As such, there was inevitably a point where its pattern broke.

That point was visible to Cheon Muyang.

Whoooong!

He raised Cheongwang.

'If I cut along this line….'

He traced the pattern exactly as he saw it.

In an instant, the formation's restraints vanished, and Cheon Muyang found himself outside, on an open street.

"So that's it."

Before his eyes stood a single gloomy building.

Even among Hangzhou's back alleys, it was tucked away in a desolate corner—an abandoned structure no one ever visited.

'Blood….'

A thick scent of blood hung in the air.

The sinister aura emanating from the building was unmistakably demonic energy.

'How can such a place exist in Hangzhou?!'

Cheon Muyang burned with rage.

Yet he swallowed that anger, and slowly pushed open the door.

Creeeak.

An abyss without visible end yawned before him.

Staring into the demonic energy lurking within, Cheon Muyang clenched his teeth tightly.

Crunch.

A suffocating demonic aura.

It might already have been too late.

'Was I wrong?'

Just as he was about to step inside—

Voices came from outside.

Cheon Muyang immediately climbed onto a nearby tree and held his breath.

"Phew. This place gives me the creeps every time we come."

"Keep it down. Let's just finish what we need to do and get out."

The two were unmistakably the gatekeepers who had stopped Cheon Muyang earlier in Hangzhou's back alleys.

They were carrying several children on their backs, as though unconscious.

It seemed they were headed for this building.

Suddenly, the two froze.

"H-huh? Why is the door open?"

"Y-yeah… why is it?"

Their tension was obvious.

They looked terrified.

Normally, they would have just dumped the unconscious ones in front of the building and left.

"Sh-shouldn't we close the door?"

Why was it?

The thought that the door had to be closed crossed their minds.

"B-be careful! Let's just go!"

"N-no, we should close it."

The two approached the building.

The moment one of them grabbed the door handle—

A hand suddenly shot out from inside.

"Gah!"

It grabbed the crown of the nearby man's head and yanked him inward.

Startled, the other man reached out in panic.

"H-hey!"

"Aaaaargh!"

But the man was dragged straight inside, swallowed by the darkness.

It all happened in an instant.

Bam!

The door slammed shut, and from within came a horrific scream.

"H-hiiik!"

The survivor had only one thought left—run.

But his legs, frozen stiff, refused to move.

Creeeak.

The scream abruptly stopped.

Creeeak.

The door, which had slowly closed, opened again.

"I-it wasn't me! It wasn't me!"

He struggled desperately.

But there was no way human words could reach a demon already steeped in darkness.

"Aaaaargh!"

He couldn't escape.

He too was dragged, scraping along the ground, beyond that door.

Bam!

Once more, the door slammed shut.

No sound followed.

"Truly a Gate of Life and Death."

Life and death were divided by that door—if that wasn't a Gate of Life and Death, what was?

Cheon Muyang clicked his tongue and dropped down from the tree.

He looked at the children the two men had brought.

"These children…"

Suddenly, he recalled what the black dealer who had died inside the formation had said.

"They said they were materials for cultivating 'special martial arts.'"

And those special martial arts were likely what those deranged Ban-Cheon Ghosts were practicing.

"No matter how justified the revenge may be…"

The Ban-Cheon Ghosts' desire for revenge was justified.

Cheon Muyang truly believed that.

Had he been in their position, he would have done the same.

"But this method is wrong."

He could not accept revenge that strayed into inhuman paths.

Who would bear responsibility for these deaths?

Crunch.

Cheon Muyang infused energy into the unconscious children.

All of them had blockages in the meridians connected to the Hundred Convergences point, leaving them conscious but no different from fools.

'Vile bastards.'

Cheon Muyang forced the blocked meridians open.

The children regained consciousness.

Their eyes were still dazed, but Cheon Muyang could only hope they understood his words.

"If you go straight down this road, there's a place called Nanginru. Run there."

"Ah…"

Some of the children nodded.

Those who couldn't speak—he had likely saved only children like that.

His anger piled up, layer upon layer.

Now was not the time to unleash the fury he was holding back.

"Go. I'll be right behind you."

"A-ah…"

The children bowed their heads.

Instead of words, they expressed gratitude.

Watching their retreating backs, Cheon Muyang gripped Cheongwang tightly.

"This can't be allowed."

What sin had those children committed?

"Revenge should be taken only on those responsible."

If revenge spilled yet more innocent blood, it was no longer just.

"Isn't that right?"

Cheon Muyang swung Cheongwang.

The door dividing life and death shattered like a worn-out shoe.

Step. Step.

Without hesitation, Cheon Muyang entered.

He felt gazes turning toward him.

Sssssss—

Stealthy, predatory stares—like beasts eyeing prey.

But Cheon Muyang smiled in disdain.

"What a load of bullshit."

He had no intention of dragging this out.

Whoooong!

A blue radiance gathered around Cheongwang.

It drove away the darkness and shone in pure brilliance.

"Kiiiiiik!"

Something hidden in the darkness shrieked and lunged toward him.

Clang!

Their claws were like blades.

The one who emerged—

It was a face he remembered.

"You…."

How could he forget?

The day the Cheon Family fell.

This was the one who had personally smashed down the main gate.

[So the Cheon Family has fallen this far. I won't even need to step in myself. Die like the vermin you are.]

It had been a time when even Cheon Seonhak was absent.

And so, as if disappointed, the man had merely destroyed the Cheon Family's main gate…

Without ever stepping in directly, he had merely watched the downfall of the Cheon Family.

'Before the demonic art was completed?'

His appearance back then and his appearance now were far too different.

Having completely lost his reason, he was no different from a beast.

"In that case…."

Revenge taken through an inhuman path had already lost its purity and become corrupted.

"I'll cut you down."

"Kraaaaaaah!"

"Come. The blood of the Cheon Family you hated so dearly is right here."

To draw out all those hiding, Cheon Muyang chose a desperate measure and slashed his own arm with his sword.

Drip.

Drip, drip.

Drip, drip, drip.

Cheon Muyang's blood fell to the ground.

To those who lived only to cry out for vengeance against the Cheon Family, it was an unbearable provocation.

"Kraaaaaaaah!"

That monster was only the beginning.

Several more monsters revealed themselves.

All of them had lost their sanity, transformed into creatures that spewed nothing but blind hatred toward the Cheon Family.

"Come."

There was no persuading them.

He would bear their fury himself.

"But I have no intention of dying."

Cheon Muyang despised the demonic aura permeating this entire place.

"Even the dark night belongs to the heavens."

Whooong!

The sky was not only bright.

Even a dark sky was still the sky.

Cheongwang swept across the darkness-filled heavens.

Paaaat!

Dark Heaven was severed.

And beneath that dense darkness, the hidden reality was revealed.

"...."

It was a sight too horrific to bear.

Countless corpses.

Who would console those pitiful lives sacrificed solely for the completion of demonic arts?

"You are wrong."

"Kraaaaaah!"

"How could a human ever replace the heavens…."

Yet for this moment alone, he would.

In place of the heavens, he would cut them down.

That resolve infused Cheongwang.

Streams of blue sword energy bloomed and stretched toward the sky.

"This time, I will take its place."

The moon was hidden behind clouds.

But Cheongwang filled the void it left behind.

Cheongwang moved in a circular arc.

As the sensation of sword and self becoming one arose, Cheongwang brought the sword path to its conclusion.

Kwaaaaaang!

The old building itself collapsed.

Sword energy rained down everywhere Cheongwang's light reached.

"Kiiyaaaaaak!"

Horrific screams echoed.

But Cheon Muyang did not stop.

The sword path he had thought finished gave rise once more to a lofty, flowing current.

'Ah….'

Not wanting to miss that moonlike, gentle flow of the sword path, Cheon Muyang instead closed his eyes.

Kwaaaang!

With a thunderous roar as if heaven and earth were splitting—

Everything before Cheon Muyang's eyes was reduced to scorched ruin.

Thud!

The monstrous bodies collapsed.

Their blood, stained pitch-black, could no longer be called human.

"Cursed Cheon Family blood!"

"I'll kill you! Kill you!"

"...."

Cheon Muyang slowly approached the thrashing remnants.

"I gave you more than enough chances."

"Ah…!"

Thrust!

Cheongwang severed their necks.

Thud.

Heads fell away meaninglessly.

Even in death, they could not close their rage-filled eyes.

"May you find peace."

It was a consolation—

Not only for them,

But for every life that had been slain by their hands.

That was the only prayer he could offer for the dead.