By Zephyria 
Wooden houses were entwined and collapsed in flames in an instant. As the fire spread to the roofs made of dry straw, it felt as if the lava of Flame Mountain was flowing through this very place.
Boom! When the second explosion erupted, Ho-yeon thought he heard the screams of people. Flames surged again from the opposite side, and black smoke blocked out even the moonlight, threatening to swallow the main altar.
“Young Master Wi, please stay inside the Right Guardian Pavilion! Abok will arrive shortly.”
Chief Han shouted urgently and immediately rushed down toward the burning residential area. Do-gyeon did the same.
With Il Gang-gun at the lead, the Demonic Shadow Guard was summoned, filling the vast plaza with masked black shadows. Il Gang-gun ordered the use of river water to suppress the fire and commanded that counter-fires be set in the residential areas to prevent the flames from spreading further.
Il Gang-gun gnashed his teeth. He had meticulously overhauled all the barrier formations after the Blood Cult’s intrusion on the Cult Leader’s birthday, yet it was certain that a rat existed. Moreover, it was undoubtedly someone in a position to manage the affairs of the Divine Cult, not a mere member.
The Right Guardian also shouted for Ho-yeon to stay inside, but even amidst the chaos, Ho-yeon could not take his eyes off the flames. Seeing the abnormally fierce fire surging upward, he wondered if this was the work of the Blood Cult using blood-flame jiangshis.
Unlike the cult members heading downward as Chief Han had suggested, Ho-yeon saw Abok running toward him. For a brief moment, he felt glad to see Abok wearing the cloth he had gifted him over his eyes, but Ho-yeon quickly reached out, shouting, “Abok!” as he grabbed the other’s forearm.
“Young Master! You must evacuate inside.”
“Is this the work of the blood-flame jiangshis?”
“Inside, first!”
“The fire… we have to put out the fire!”
Seeing the flames flickering and spreading like the tongue of a crimson fire dragon, it seemed they would pass the residential area and soon reach the Heavenly Demon Palace. Furthermore, the screams reaching his ears were no hallucination. The silk shop, Neungrabang, where he had previously bargained, was on the verge of being engulfed by the fire demon.
Ho-yeon snatched the sword from the waist of Abok, who was still trying to lead him inside. Since Tae-pyeong was nowhere to be seen, he intended to dash forward.
“Young Master!”
Abok tried to block Ho-yeon by channeling demonic energy into both hands, but Ho-yeon brushed him aside, his own hand imbued with a blue frost energy. Abok, unable to see, felt the illusion of snow falling all around him.
Ho-yeon tossed out a brief apology and immediately deployed his lightfoot technique toward the area below the flickering main altar. Ice crystals scattered around his figure as his hair, resembling eternal snow, fluttered in the wind.
Il Gang-gun spotted Ho-yeon leaping from the railing into the air, but it was already too late to catch him. However, was Wi Ho-yeon someone capable of such lightfoot technique?
He had only received information that Ho-yeon had not properly mastered ice arts. Il Gang-gun stared in disbelief at the snow crystals reflecting the moonlight, spreading out like silver threads in all directions.
But he, too, had no time to be leisurely. As long as the Cult Leader was away, everything that happened within the Divine Cult was Il Gang-gun’s responsibility.
Ho-yeon, moving with a lightfoot technique that was practically a supernatural feat, spotted those throwing oil jars into the residential area to set counter-fires. He erupted the energy from his dantian once more with great force. White frost sprouted from the point where Ho-yeon’s feet touched, and the ground where flames had been surging transformed into a frozen sheet of ice, as if in the dead of winter.
Since his parents’ martial prowess had not been very high and he had been trapped in an underground cave at a very young age, Ho-yeon had never properly learned ice arts. However, the profound internal power within Ho-yeon’s dantian surged violently. There were no forms, no specific cultivation methods. He simply moved according to the thought that he had to stop that fire.
This was the Heavenly Demon’s Demon Sect. Although this happened while Mu-gyeong was away, Ho-yeon did not want the cult members to resent him. In fact, he was at the center of the reason why Mu-gyeong had to leave the cult.
As if responding to Ho-yeon’s instinctive cry, the cold energy trapped within his entire body erupted all at once. As he reached out his hand, imbued with the energy of the eternal snow mountains, a blue frost energy swept through the residential area covered in flames.
It resembled the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Wall Palm, a supreme technique of ice arts. However, it was far more massive; it was the origin of ice arts that froze all things to absolute zero.
The flames surged fiercely once more against the strong cold wind Ho-yeon created. However, the fire could not spread; it froze as if taxidermied, and only white frost settled upon the burnt houses. As Ho-yeon split the flames and quelled the fire demon, the cult members continued to carry river water to assist in the extinguishing.
Turning toward the direction where the fire had not yet been contained, Ho-yeon discovered beings with crimson bodies. Their bodies, bumpy as if covered in boils, radiated an immense heat. None of them held swords, but the energy, as if fire arts were embedded in their entire bodies, was threatening in its very existence.
Ho-yeon instinctively felt that these were blood-flame jiangshis. If they were human, they would not intentionally approach a place with fire. Driven by a strong urge that these things must not be sent into the flames, he reached out again, and the cold energy crashed over the blood-flame jiangshis like a tsunami carrying icebergs.
From the opposite side of Ho-yeon, Do-gyeon was charging forward, slaughtering the blood-flame jiangshis, his lips torn in a grotesque grin. A bone-chilling cold lingered on Ho-yeon’s frozen sleeves. Because he had poured out the raw power of the ice dragon, his white breath scattered raggedly.
“They smell just like stinky tofu!”
Cackling, Do-gyeon mercilessly sliced through the blood-flame jiangshis, who were unable to properly manifest their fire energy due to Ho-yeon’s cold. Some of them had faces Do-gyeon recognized, but they were merely corpses that had been buried and then dragged back up.
Crash. Ho-yeon stood where a burnt house collapsed. However, his sword was imbued with sword qi draped in extreme yin chill. Ho-yeon swung his sword, cutting through the charred debris pouring down.
“Young Master Wi, are you alright?!”
“Elder! The fire hasn’t been contained over there yet!”
Instead of saying he was fine, Ho-yeon pointed toward the residential area on the opposite side that connected to the river. Do-gyeon nodded and passed Ho-yeon with a burst of fierce wind.
At the signal to follow as he took the lead, Ho-yeon immediately chased after Do-gyeon. It was said that Do-gyeon’s lightfoot technique could rival that of Cheon Mu-gyeong, and indeed, it was overwhelming just to follow the traces Do-gyeon left behind.
However, while the blood-flame jiangshis were visible, those presumed to be from the Blood Cult were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the Blood Cult intended to cause a fire in the Demon Sect to deplete their strength before invading. In reality, there was no way to stop the blood-flame jiangshis, who were willing to self-destruct, using only counter-fires or river water.
Within the flames blocking Do-gyeon’s path, several blood-flame jiangshis appeared to be merging into a single body. Ho-yeon wanted to look away from the disgusting form of melting and sticking flesh, but he released yin energy to freeze the entire path the fire intended to take.
The movements of the dozens of blood-flame jiangshis gradually slowed, and then they attempted to trigger the fire again by exploding their own bodies. “Elder!” Ho-yeon shouted, throwing his sword, heavily imbued with yin energy, to Do-gyeon.
Do-gyeon, catching the hilt of the flying sword, wore a bewildered expression. It was so freezing that it felt as if not just his hand, but his entire body was suffering frostbite from ice rather than fire. However, with the sword that was not only frosted with blue yin energy but also scattering snow crystals, Do-gyeon sliced off all the limbs of the blood-flame jiangshis attempting to self-destruct.
Because he had forcibly drawn out the ice dragon’s energy, Ho-yeon could barely remain standing.
“Those bastards! Now that the seeds of Blood Demon Valley are drying up, they struggle all the more!”
Even Do-gyeon’s loud shout sounded muffled. Ho-yeon squeezed out the last of his energy to freeze the ground in all directions so that the fire could not catch anywhere. The foot of the demonic cult headquarters was filled with ice and frost, as if the eternal snow mountains had been moved there.
* * *
Around the time Cheon Mu-gyeong and Wi Ho-yeon fell, Jangun was only about two hundred jang (approx. 600m) away from them. Normally, he lived as the Cult Leader’s shadow, but whenever the two were together, he always maintained that distance. It was because of the order given previously.
“Jangun, move two hundred jang away.”
He regretted so much that he hadn’t fallen with them. Jangun, who had been swept away by the landslide at this distance of two hundred jang, supported his body on the ground with palm power, but it was useless against the massive movement of nature. Even a master of Jangun’s level could do little more than survive.
Jangun could not wait for the mountain to settle and tried to climb up several times, but landslides occurred repeatedly. Searching for the Cult Leader amidst the ruins where the Memorial Stele once stood felt hopeless.
Then, he was able to feel the Cult Leader’s energy; a powerful demonic energy erupted from deep underground, extending out and dominating even the atmosphere of the North Sea.
‘The Ten Thousand Demon Imprisonment Domain…!’
Thus, this was the domain of the Heavenly Demon. Cheon Mu-gyeong finally revealed himself from the place where demonic energy had erupted with enough force to shake the eternal snow mountains and change the terrain.
“Cult Leader!”
Jangun immediately prostrated himself, pleading for his life to be taken.
As Cheon Mu-gyeong withdrew his sword from Jangun, Jangun lowered his neck further. He couldn’t even bring himself to ask where Young Master Wi was. He could only feel awe and prepare for death under the overwhelming pressure of the Heavenly Demon, who defied even nature itself.
Cheon Mu-gyeong slowly exhaled a white breath and lifted his red eyes. His ink-dark hair swayed, heavily eroded by demonic energy.
Cheon Mu-gyeong’s gaze turned toward a place covered in blue energy.
“We are going to the Ice Palace.”