By Zephyria 
He hastened his steps out of urgency, but judging from the tension that enveloped his entire body, it was clear that this place was not etched in Ak Mujin’s memory as a pleasant one.
The scene that greeted him upon entry was telling.
Seeing the traces of his life, where he had eaten, slept, and lived for so long, still intact, he was momentarily seized by the urge to turn back and escape. It was a place he truly never wanted to return to.
He steeled his heart and hurriedly moved towards the pitch-black passage beyond the small, open space. However, the moment he faced the passage, his hair seemed to bristle on end.
‘If I pass through this path, will I truly be able to return?’
Such thoughts were inevitable. Back then, Ak Mujin inside the Spirit Mausoleum had been so powerless…
But what kept him from giving up was the face of Jin Geum-ryeon that surfaced in his mind. Ak Mujin gripped his sword tightly, steeled his heart once more, and managed to pass through the secret passage and the Spirit Mausoleum in succession.
While the end of the secret passage leading outside remained almost unchanged, the Spirit Mausoleum was quite clean, as if it had been newly refurbished. Except for one thing: the wall he had desperately tried to break down to escape.
The wall had already been crumbled by someone. Ak Mujin had been trapped here for days, trying to destroy it but failing, so seeing it in this state evoked complex emotions.
Ak Mujin expected countless Demon Cult followers to be lying in wait outside the Spirit Mausoleum, so he stepped out in a battle ready stance, only to find a corpse at his feet. And when he raised his eyes to look beyond, more corpses were strewn about.
The Sandow Union had already swept through once.
Ak Mujin wondered how late he was, or how quickly Jin Geum-ryeon had arrived, and hurriedly stepped over the mountain of corpses. Among them were faces of well-known experts, so Ak Mujin tried to avoid looking down as much as possible.
It was then.
Flash.
The entire sky, which had been dark, suddenly lit up. Startled, Ak Mujin reflexively looked in that direction, towards where the main hall was located. The roof of a nearby building was half-destroyed and burning, as if struck by lightning.
“…!”
The sky was clearly clear enough to see stars, and there was no rain. Seeing this, Ak Mujin, as the original author, could immediately guess that this lightning had come from the Cult Leader’s palm. Which meant that the Cult Leader was already fighting Jin Geum-ryeon.
Ak Mujin urgently used his light body skill to leap onto a nearby building and began to quickly approach the main hall.
Following the lightning, a thunderous sound rumbled through the ground.
As he got closer to the main hall, the number of scattered corpses increased, and the sounds of the Sandow Union and the Demon Cult fighting each other grew louder. On his way here, Ak Mujin had encountered not only Demon Cult followers trying to harm him, but also Elder Yeo Il-san, and he had no choice but to take his life, leaving him with a heavy heart. But such emotions were fleeting, and as he finally discovered Jin Geum-ryeon near the main hall, thoughts of the Elder quickly faded away.
Jin Geum-ryeon was highly focused. The three swords, including Moonless, were already moving busily, threatening the Cult Leader, and he himself was also facing the Cult Leader, responding to his attacks with palm techniques.
The Cult Leader said.
“This Lord has been pondering, you see.”
The fight had been going on for a long time, and sweat was beading on the foreheads of both Jin Geum-ryeon and the Cult Leader. The Cult Leader fluttered his sleeves and raised one hand.
“It seems the Evil Cult Lord didn’t come to see this Lord at this time for no reason?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he moved quickly and sent a palm strike towards Jin Geum-ryeon’s right cheek. With a heavy sound cutting through the air, fire flared from his palm. But Jin Geum-ryeon also raised his left hand to block the palm strike, then lightly leaped back and landed behind the Cult Leader. He immediately counterattacked, also unleashing palm force.
Bang!
A loud noise rang out, but it only grazed the Cult Leader’s clothes and destroyed another building behind him.
“Then, what do you think I came for?”
Jin Geum-ryeon retorted leisurely, steadily moving his swords to threaten the Cult Leader.
Ak Mujin could only stare blankly at this scene for a while after arriving. He had never seen Jin Geum-ryeon giving his all, and the Cult Leader had never shown him everything he had while he was learning Martial Arts under him.
At least for now, Jin Geum-ryeon didn’t seem to be significantly weaker than the Cult Leader. He even seemed to have a slight advantage, but it was a narrow margin, and the situation could change at any moment if luck didn’t favor him.
“Indeed…”
The Cult Leader chuckled, even though Jin Geum-ryeon didn’t answer.
“Is it because of that bastard?”
The Cult Leader’s eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
“…Ahn Do-hyun!”
Jin Geum-ryeon, following the Cult Leader’s gaze, discovered Ak Mujin and immediately called out his name. The Cult Leader’s eyebrows twitched for a moment.
Ak Mujin snapped to his senses when he made eye contact with the Cult Leader. He couldn’t possibly stay out of this fight. Thinking that he couldn’t just watch any longer, he quickly leaped up, drew his sword, and joined Jin Geum-ryeon’s attack.
In the original story, there was a scene where Jin Geum-ryeon was severely injured while fighting the Cult Leader, and Mae-yeong shared his inner energy with him. Although the flow of this world had changed drastically from the original, the existence of such a scene made his heart clench with anxiety. He might not be as skilled as Jin Geum-ryeon or the Cult Leader, but helping even a little would surely make a difference.
“Ahn Do-hyun, why did you come here!”
Jin Geum-ryeon asked urgently, dodging the Cult Leader’s palm strike, but Ak Mujin shook his head and unleashed Sword Aura towards the Cult Leader. A red light flickered and seemed to envelop the sword, and a sharply honed energy was emitted.
The Cult Leader easily deflected Ak Mujin’s attack with a light flutter of his sleeve while dealing with Moonless, but it wasn’t discouraging at all, even though it didn’t inflict any damage on him. Ak Mujin just thought that his role was to create even a small opening for Jin Geum-ryeon.
“Now is not the time to worry about that! Focus!”
At his shout, Jin Geum-ryeon barely managed to tear his gaze away from him and began to focus his attention on the Cult Leader. As the two began to attack, the Cult Leader’s face frowned a little more.
“Ajin, you remember my teachings very well.”
A soft voice flowed into Ak Mujin’s ears. Ak Mujin felt a chill and looked up at the Cult Leader, whose lips were twitching as if forcing a smile.
“But, how dare you…”
Ak Mujin narrowly avoided his palm strike and rolled aside. At that moment, lightning struck the spot where Ak Mujin had been standing. It was a moment that made every hair on his body stand on end. If he had dodged backward, he would have been struck by the lightning without a chance.
“Abandon the name this Lord bestowed upon you!”
Attacks began to pour in with a thunderous roar. Jin Geum-ryeon’s eyebrows twitched as if the remark was offensive, and he moved his swords, but the Cult Leader’s movements were too fast. Ak Mujin focused all his concentration to keep up with his movements. At that moment, something flew in with a whoosh, and one of the three swords that had been threatening the Cult Leader was eventually cut in half.
It was Heavenly Demon Flicking Skill.
Ak Mujin had seen the Cult Leader use this to often take the lives of Demon Cult followers who had committed wrongdoings when he was in the cult. But this was the first time he had witnessed him using it so quickly that it was almost invisible. Just as he was trying to gauge where the Cult Leader had moved, a palm was extended in front of Ak Mujin’s eyes.
At the same time, Jin Geum-ryeon quickly intervened, blocking it with his left hand and pushing the Cult Leader away. Jin Geum-ryeon felt a tingling sensation not only in his palm but also in his shoulder, but he lightly leaped back to reduce the impact. The Cult Leader also moved his feet similarly, stepping back.
“Since the master is so clingy, it’s no wonder he wants to abandon his name.”
Jin Geum-ryeon sneered at the Cult Leader and quickly leaped forward again, sending the swords flying. They successively unleashed Sword Aura towards the Cult Leader, but the Cult Leader once again unleashed palm force, deflecting them in all directions. But Jin Geum-ryeon, wielding Moonless, immediately aimed his sword straight at his neck, penetrating the gap. A blue Sword Aura flickered along the sword.
Seeing this, the Cult Leader seemed to raise his palm to the sky, then began to unleash a massive palm force. At first, his intentions were unclear due to his sudden actions, but Ak Mujin soon realized.
The broken roof tiles from the palm force began to fly towards them.