By Zephyria 
Ak Mujin and Jin Geum-ryeon hid themselves and waited a short while. In the distance, two people dressed in black clothes crunched through the undergrowth, walking away from them. Without any regard for their surroundings, they promptly unfastened their trousers and began to relieve themselves in the open. Ak Mujin, and Jin Geum-ryeon as well, immediately frowned. However, the two men, oblivious to any presence, continued to empty their bladders.
‘They’re the ones.’
‘Indeed.’
Jin Geum-ryeon said through Telepathic Transmission, his eyes never leaving them. Ak Mujin responded lightly, also observing their actions closely. It had been a while since he’d encountered the Demon Cult, but their appearance and behavior seemed unchanged.
“Ah, that’s refreshing.”
One of the two men said. The man relieving himself next to him shuddered, tidied his clothes, and plucked a blade of foxtail grass, placing it in his mouth.
“Finally, we can leave this godforsaken backwater. There’s nothing here. I haven’t had a drink in days.”
The Demon Cult with the foxtail grass grumbled. The man beside him finished shaking himself off and began to tidy his clothes as well.
“There was a jar of liquor in the shack, wasn’t there? Didn’t you drink any?”
“What? There was?”
The foxtail grass man exclaimed in surprise and anger.
“You should have told me if there was!”
“We didn’t drink much either. The Vice-Leader got angry and smashed the jar over that bastard’s head.”
The man replied, slowly walking over to lean against a tree a short distance away. It sounded like ‘that bastard’ was Seo-mok.
The Demon Cult with the foxtail grass naturally followed him and stood beside him.
“That guy’s tough.”
“Yeah. Even the First Young Master couldn’t endure the Vice-Leader’s torture and died, but how is he holding on…”
Before he could finish speaking, Ak Mujin’s feet moved quickly and silently behind them. He swiftly seized the Acupoint of the Demon Cult with the grass to subdue him, then held his sword to the throat of the man leaning against the tree.
“Ugh…!”
“……!”
“Where is Seo-mok?”
The man’s wide-open mouth suggested he was about to shout and alert others to the danger. However, he closed his mouth when he saw another large figure emerge from behind Ak Mujin. A sword floated beside him, with a red tassel and jade pendant dangling from its hilt.
The man recognized him instantly.
“D-Demon Subduing Sword…”
As a Demon Cult, the man was well aware of the reputation of the master swordsman who was over six feet tall, possessed gleaming golden eyes, and wielded a flying sword. It was Jin Geum-ryeon, the Lord of the Sandow Union, who, for some unknown reason, beheaded any Demon Cult he encountered.
Ak Mujin pressed the sword against his throat and commanded,
“Speak.”
The man’s legs trembled. The Demon Cult with the grass was also unable to move or make a sound because his Acupoint had been seized. Perhaps it was fortunate that he had just relieved himself. At least he wouldn’t disgracefully wet his pants.
“…In the paulownia forest behind… there’s a shack….”
Ak Mujin, having received the answer he wanted, was appalled by the man’s betrayal, which was hardly befitting of a fanatic. It seemed Joo Mu-jeong was not well-liked. Well, it would be stranger if anyone genuinely pledged allegiance to a man who readily killed his followers for the slightest offense.
“Are you going to leave them like this?”
“…I don’t want to stain my hands with blood.”
Ak Mujin replied lightly, neatly sliding his sword back into its scabbard. Jin Geum-ryeon chuckled and looked down at them.
“They might starve to death if we just leave them here.”
At those words, Ak Mujin paused, his eyes darting around as he considered. Would it be better to kill them cleanly? But a passerby might find them and save them. It was uncertain whether they could release the Acupoint or not.
The Demon Cultists desperately blinked their eyes as they looked up at them, but Ak Mujin didn’t have time to linger here. He quickly used Light Body Skill with Jin Geum-ryeon to search the forest for the shack the man had mentioned. And as paulownia trees began to appear, they saw Demon Cultists patrolling the area.
They cleaned up the area to avoid being discovered and finally found a small shack standing beyond. However, the closer they got to the shack, the more Ak Mujin’s face twisted in displeasure.
First, there was a corpse. He thought something was strange, but he hadn’t realized it was a corpse from a distance. The body of a woman who didn’t seem very old had one arm fixed to a tree branch above her head and the other covering her mouth, making it appear as if she was dancing.
It was clearly a prank by the Demon Cultists. Ak Mujin was instantly disgusted and quickly tried to remove the poison needles that were holding the corpse in place, intending to lower the woman’s body. But as he looked down at his waist to do so, he saw the corpse of a girl, seemingly the woman’s child, standing nearby in the same pose.
Feeling goosebumps rise on the back of his neck, Ak Mujin lowered the woman’s body and quickly searched the surrounding area. Not far away, he found the corpses of a man and a young boy in poses that suggested they were chopping wood with an axe.
“……”
Ak Mujin knew who was responsible for this heinous act, and the boiling rage made the back of his head feel cold. He had long known how cruel and unhesitant they were to kill, but this act, which had abandoned even the slightest semblance of humanity, made him shudder. Jin Geum-ryeon, noticing Ak Mujin’s increasingly pale complexion, also began to look grim.
“We should quickly take care of this and leave.”
“Yes.”
Although time was of the essence, Ak Mujin couldn’t ignore the tragic fate of the family that had been killed so miserably when the Demon Cult appeared here. He quickly reached out to the girl’s corpse, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
With a whooshing sound, something heavy flew towards them rapidly.
Ak Mujin instinctively twisted his body to avoid them. At the same time, Jin Geum-ryeon’s slender and clean sword blade instantly emerged from its scabbard, deflecting something heading towards Ak Mujin’s face. With a sharp clang, a large piece of metal split in two and scattered in all directions.
“…It’s a trap.”
After confirming what had fallen to the ground, Jin Geum-ryeon realized it was a large axe. A rope was tied to the axe’s handle, and when he turned his gaze to the girl’s corpse, he saw a thin string tautly connected to something behind her arm.
Ak Mujin gritted his teeth. His eyes seemed to blaze with fire.
“Let’s go.”
Jin Geum-ryeon nodded in agreement instead of replying, and they quickly began to move through the forest. Traps were set up everywhere besides the corpses, but they repeatedly failed to touch them.
*
Even after morning, Joo Mu-jeong was still contemplating whether to kill Seo-mok. He spat on Seo-mok’s thigh as he watched him, exhausted from torture, fall asleep. Seo-mok startled awake from his light slumber at the small sensation.
“It seems you still have no intention of cooperating.”
As he regained consciousness, the pain surging through his body contorted his face. Joo Mu-jeong placed his foot on Seo-mok’s thigh, where he had spat, and began to press down hard. Seo-mok bit his lip, struggling to suppress his groans.
“This is your last chance.”
Streams of blood began to seep out from under Joo Mu-jeong’s shoe, from the dozen or so small puncture wounds on his thigh. Groans escaped from between Seo-mok’s teeth.
“Kuh…”
“Actually, there are many ways to find Ak Mujin even without you. But it would be a little easier with your help. And you would be more comfortable too.”
“I… have already… said it… several… times…”
As expected, the answer was disappointing, but Joo Mu-jeong wasn’t too discouraged. He lifted his foot from his thigh, and Seo-mok’s chest began to rise and fall rapidly as he tried to catch his breath.
“Bring it.”
Joo Mu-jeong stretched out his hand without turning around, and one of the Demon Cultists standing behind him placed a large spiked club in his hand. Countless sharp thorns were embedded in the end of the club, and Joo Mu-jeong’s eyes gleamed as he looked down at it.
“I’ve always wondered what it feels like to use such a crude weapon. I only learned swordsmanship from the Cult Leader.”
Joo Mu-jeong muttered slowly, fiddling with the thorns on the spiked club.
“Come to think of it, it’s strange. Even though Ak Senior Brother betrayed the Demon Cult, he’s still loved by the Cult Leader. Where does that favoritism come from? Huh? I don’t even have a loyal subordinate like you.”
As Joo Mu-jeong swung the spiked club once, a heavy sound threatened Seo-mok. But Seo-mok was only wondering how quickly he could die if he was hit by that. In fact, he felt grateful that he would be killed in this way.
“I don’t see any difference between him and me, so why do so many people follow him?”
Joo Mu-jeong’s voice was low and quiet as he whispered in Seo-mok’s ear. He smiled and raised the arm holding the spiked club high.
At that moment, with a sharp sound, the spiked club was cut in half.
A bewildered Joo Mu-jeong stared at it, then slowly turned his head and raised his gaze upward.
Ak Mujin’s sword flew quickly, heading straight for Joo Mu-jeong’s chest.