Chapter 32

Defying Heaven Ghost (2)

The collapsed building was a tombstone for those who had gone to their lonely deaths.

"...."

Cheon Muyang closed his eyes.

It was a brief moment of prayer for the dead.

"Lord!"

That was when it happened.

Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak approached.

Both were covered in blood, as if they had fought a desperate battle.

"You're here?"

He could roughly guess what had happened.

"You must withdraw!"

"Ah, you managed to find me."

"Lord!"

Unlike the two, who were frantic,

Cheon Muyang remained utterly calm.

As if nothing at all had happened, he spoke to them.

"There are traces of the Demonic Cult here."

"The Demonic Cult!"

"It seems the Cheon Clan is being taken lightly."

Sasaseuk.

The presence of others could be felt.

They must have noticed the anomaly.

And as they followed behind Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak, an encirclement was forming, tightening with every passing moment.

"Lord! You must withdraw."

"You two should withdraw instead."

"Lord!"

"Where would we even run?"

All directions were blocked.

Where was there to flee?

Cheon Muyang had no intention of running.

He wanted to rip out the roots of that despicable Demonic Cult.

"...."

At that, the two tried to forcibly drag Cheon Muyang away.

Who would stay behind, and who would take Cheon Muyang with them?

"You go, Cha Myeonghak. I'll stay."

Neung Ryeoun stepped forward.

Cha Myeonghak wanted to insist that he stay instead, but there wasn't even time for that.

'Someone has to do it.'

Neung Ryeoun had simply moved first.

The two wore resolute expressions.

"What are you two doing?"

"...."

"Well, it's a fine mindset and all, but..."

Heh.

For some reason, a laugh escaped him.

"Lord!"

"Ah, sorry. It was just funny."

The encirclement had drawn close.

Rather than persuading Cheon Muyang, who had no intention of moving of his own will, Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak tried to take him by force through acupoint sealing.

"Oh?"

Cheon Muyang became wary.

"Stop it."

"...."

It came to nothing.

"If you seek to live, you die. If you seek to die, you live."

Whooong!

Heavenly Radiance shone forth.

"Fight with the resolve to die."

"...."

All three prepared themselves for death.

That was when it happened.

A strange voice was heard.

"If you truly do not wish to die here, follow me."

"Oh ho."

Cheon Muyang's eyes gleamed.

It was because he sensed the anger lingering within those eyes.

"Follow me."

"Lord."

"Fine. Let's follow."

Cheon Muyang followed him.

The encirclement they believed to be perfectly sealed was not complete.

Their formation had failed to fully spread beyond a certain boundary.

'So this is where he's heading.'

Thus, they escaped the encirclement.

When they could no longer feel their presence, they realized they had entered a new area.

They sensed presences of a different kind from before.

"So. You must be the Cheon Clan's butchered eldest young master?"

"That's right."

"You've grown quite a bit."

"You know me?"

"Of course. The day you were born."

He spoke with hollow eyes that held no emotion.

"Countless people, myself included, were driven out of the Cheon Clan because of it."

Twitch.

Cheon Muyang frowned.

It felt as though dozens, hundreds of blades were all being aimed at his forehead at once.

"As expected, a Defying Heaven Ghost."

Thinking they had escaped the encirclement, it seemed they had instead walked straight into a tiger's den.

Shhk.

Figures began to reveal themselves from all sides.

Each appeared in a haggard state, clearly different from those consumed by demonic energy, yet the fury within them was the same.

"Yes. From that day on, we had no choice but to become ghosts who curse the heavens."

His voice was dry, like a parched desert.

One might think this was what it sounded like when rage reached its extreme.

"And yet, with what face do you dare come before us now?"

He sneered.

No matter how Cheon Muyang answered, that sneer would not fade.

"It is to correct the wrongs of the past."

The sneer did not disappear.

Rather, it deepened.

"Who is correcting whose wrongs, exactly?"

"The karma of the family head—I will bear it."

"Don't spout nonsense."

"I admit it. In the past, the family head was weak. He was swept along by circumstances."

Cheon Wigang must have struggled just to maintain the Cheon Clan.

After all, he too could not escape the original sin of joining hands with the Elders' Council.

"But things will be different now."

"Different? What will be different?"

He burst into wild laughter beyond mere sneering.

He laughed so hard it seemed his breath would give out.

Yet, with bloodshot eyes, he fixed his gaze on Cheon Muyang.

"If you hadn't cut down those who had fallen, we wouldn't even be facing each other like this. Get lost—if you truly don't wish to die here."

"I will change it."

"Shut up."

"Then will you join hands with the Demonic Cult and abandon being human?"

"...!"

"Or will you do nothing at all, merely shouting defiance at heaven until you die in a place like this, where not even sunlight reaches?"

Shoong!

His sword surged forward.

"I told you to shut up!"

Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak reacted instantly.

"Stop."

Two swords halted in midair.

Cheon Muyang stood in place without dodging the rushing blade.

Pa-at!

Blood sprayed.

The sword grazed past his nape.

Yet Cheon Muyang did not so much as blink as he faced the man.

"I, too, find the Cheon Clan repulsive."

"...."

"Correcting wrongs does not mean asking you to swear loyalty to the Cheon Clan again."

Amid the surging storm of killing intent, Cheon Muyang continued calmly.

"Use me."

"...!"

At that moment, even the vengeful ghosts who cried out against heaven were struck dumb.

They doubted their own ears.

"What kind of sophistry is that?"

Heh.

Only then did Cheon Muyang smile.

"I have many grievances against the Cheon Clan myself. That's why I intend to cut out the thoroughly rotten parts."

Cheon Muyang shrugged.

"But the rot runs so deep that doing it alone would be impossible."

Even if the rotten roots were cut away,

If they could not be filled with new shoots, the Cheon Clan would simply wither away.

"So, use me."

"...."

"Use me to create the Cheon Clan you truly wanted to build."

"And now you think our thirst for revenge will vanish because of such pretty words?"

"I am offering you the chance to prove that you were right—and that the Cheon Clan was wrong."

Cheon Muyang spoke with certainty.

"What revenge could possibly be more perfect than that?"

Kkadeuk.

"Those words… should be spoken not by you, but by your father."

"Well now, since it's come to this, let's be honest. You yourselves had no real faith in the family head either, did you?"

They were retainers of the previous family head.

In other words, they were not men who had sworn loyalty to Cheon Wigang.

"The mysterious death of the former family head, the disappearance of the eldest young master. In that chaos, did you truly intend to serve my father as the rightful family head?"

"...."

When the former family head died,

And the former eldest young master vanished,

Their loyalty did not turn toward Cheon Wigang.

"Didn't you suspect him instead?"

"There was no other choice."

Indeed, they had suspected Cheon Wigang.

After the former family head's death and the eldest young master's disappearance, the one who benefited most was Cheon Wigang.

Thus, they did not swear loyalty to him.

"However, our loyalty to the Cheon Clan was genuine."

They supported neither Cheon Wigang nor the Elders' Council, remaining instead in a neutral zone.

They resolved to move only for the sake of the Cheon Clan itself.

It was to carry out the will of the former family head.

"That was the mistake."

"...."

"From that moment on, the clan began rotting from its very roots."

They had not known.

That Supreme Elder Cheon Jungho harbored other schemes.

"It was the Elders' Council that drove you out. Did you know that?"

"What did you say?"

Their expressions changed.

Until now, the blade of their vengeance had been honed toward the current family head, Cheon Wigang.

Watching these Defying Heaven Ghosts, Cheon Muyang smiled bitterly.

"Consumed by rage, you never even realized who your true target of revenge was."

Or perhaps—

"Did the Elders' Council tell you it was the family head's will?"

They had not merely been expelled.

In the process, they were burdened with countless false charges and stripped of all honor.

They shed untold amounts of blood.

That blood belonged to their families—and their comrades.

"Don't lie. They said it was all the family head's will."

"Who said it? The Third Elder? Or was it the Supreme Elder?"

"...!"

"Then open your eyes and look. Who is the one colluding with the Demonic Cult?"

"...."

"You've been receiving information about the Cheon Clan as well. Where do you think the capital siphoned off by the former Inspection Unit Head and the Cheongeum Pavilion Lord flowed to?"

Silence fell.

Instead, Cheon Muyang sneered.

"By now, you've realized it too, haven't you?"

Perhaps in the past they might not have known.

But now, there was no way they could remain ignorant.

That the true culprit was the Elders' Council.

That it was the Elders' Council who colluded with the Demonic Cult.

'As proof, these people…'

That was precisely why they had not joined hands with the Demonic Cult.

"That is why you refuse to ally yourselves with the Demonic Cult, is it not?"

"...."

The anger vanished from them.

In its place, only emptiness remained.

'In the future, they did not exist. Geumsan didn't either.'

Which meant—

They had refused to join hands with the Demonic Cult without selling their souls.

"Whatever choice you make...."

Cheon Muyang met each of their gazes in turn.

"I will change the Cheon Clan. That is my will and my resolve. Therefore, I warn you...."

Heavenly Radiance resounded in all directions.

At that moment, the sky—one they had never looked up at even once since being driven out of the Cheon Clan—split apart.

"Do not walk the path of the demonic way."

"...."

That much, at least—

"I will never forgive."

"Just who in the world are you?"

That question—

Cheon Muyang answered as if he had been waiting for it.

"Me? I, too, once received the price of devotion in the form of a blade..."

The day he died.

Hadn't Anonymous pierced Cheon Muyang with a sword?

"I was a Defying Heaven Ghost as well."

If Anonymous had survived—

'Would I have cried out against heaven too?'

Of course, there was no way to know.

Anonymous had died, and been reborn as Cheon Muyang.

"...."

"Very well. I'll hear your answer soon enough."

Cheon Muyang left.

No one blocked his path.

Before departing, Neung Ryeoun and Cha Myeonghak issued a warning to the one who had swung his sword at Cheon Muyang.

"There won't be a second time."

"...."

After even the two of them were gone—

"So he'd been hiding while pretending to act like a butcher all this time?"

That he was a Defying Heaven Ghost—

Those words began to be interpreted in ways Cheon Muyang had never intended.

"He was the legitimate son of a family head who lacked legitimacy... it's no wonder the clan never acknowledged him."

The timing of Cheon Wigang beginning to be recognized as family head and Cheon Muyang starting to act like a mad butcher was strikingly similar—perhaps not a coincidence after all.

"So the eldest young master really did change."

Last night, Geumsan had come and declared to everyone that the eldest young master had changed.

Recalling Geumsan's confident claim that he would prove it himself left an unpleasant feeling.

"So it was true."

Thump.

His heart raced.

It was hard to believe such a thing was even possible.

"...."

Though none of them said it aloud, they likely all felt the same.

From the day they were driven out of the Cheon Clan, their time had stopped.

That frozen time had been no different from shackles.

But now, that time had begun to move.

"Perhaps...."

Perhaps they had been waiting for this very moment.

Saaaah!

Was it a coincidence?

The east began to brighten.

Sunlight gently slicing across the land.

Normally, they would have avoided even that—but today was different.

Those who had never looked up at the sky since that day—

Whoosh!

As if by unspoken agreement, all of them looked up at the sky at once.

"Ah."

"It hasn't changed."

"...."

Just like that day—

The sky they once loved remained exactly the same.

"The sky… the sky, huh...."

And so they could only stand there, gazing endlessly upward.

"An era has changed."

***

Cheon Muyang's group returned to the Vagabond Pavilion.

There, the children Cheon Muyang had rescued were sleeping.

"This isn't your own bedroom—just what do you think you're doing?"

The Pavilion Master grumbled.

Still, seeing how clean and fluffy the children looked, it seemed water for washing had been provided as well.

"Thank you."

"No need for thanks. I'll bill you for everything."

"Very well."

However, someone who should have been there was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is the Wolf king?"

"Who knows. That fellow is notoriously elusive."

Geumsan was nowhere to be seen either.

The Pavilion Master smiled brightly and held out his hand.

"Maybe I'll remember if you pay."

"...."

Neung Ryeoun pulled money from his robes.

"Tsk, what good is this? Who am I supposed to stick it on?"

"...."

Cheon Muyang had no choice but to pay the proper price.

"Heh heh heh. Said he was heading to the Cheon Clan."

"...?"

Cheon Muyang was puzzled.

Why would the Wolf kinggo there?

He asked for the reason, but the Pavilion Master merely laughed instead of answering.

"You'll find out when you get there. Best hurry. As you know, that fellow has quite the nasty temper."

Cheon Muyang hurried outside.