If someone asked me whether mountains or people were more important, I’d tell them to shut the hell up.

Because both are important.

And sometimes, neither are.

Right now is one of those times.

I didn’t regress just to nurture the mountains and make the land lush and green.

Anyway, what I’m burning now isn’t the mountain itself, but the hideout of people who kill for money.

I laughed ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) as I watched the flames grow fiercer. Seeing fire rage like this no longer left me dazed the way it used to.

If you get stronger day by day, you naturally overcome your weaknesses.

As the greenery began to glow red with heat, Yongmyeong commented.

“We’ll all need to apologize to the mountain spirit.”

I nodded.

“I’ll build a shrine later as an offering.”

Yongmyeong looked surprised.

“Cult Leader, are you rich?”

“I’ll just take what I need.”

“Yes.”

Naturally, I planned to leave the shrine construction to Yeon Ja-seong, the head of the Architectural Sect.

When he builds it, I’ll make sure he checks if there are any stakes or posts embedded in Huimyeong Mountain.

There’s a high chance the assassins planted stakes while setting up mechanical traps or contraptions. On a mountain like that, even if you cultivate your energy, your body feels sluggish and you get no results. The effect is that bad.

Come to think of it, these assassins gave me one more reason to kill them.

Destruction of forest, desecration of mountain spirit energy, impaling a pure mountain with stakes, falsely making it seem like I’m the one burning it, generally pissing me off…

The reasons to kill them just keep piling up.

Still, watching the mountain go up in flames did sting a little.

But I didn’t become a martial hero by accident. This isn’t the first time I’ve set a mountain ablaze.

The Sword Demon looked around and said,

“The terrain looks different than it did from afar.”

Suddenly, a huge tree was falling toward us, so we all leapt with light footwork.

Boom!

The way the tree fell felt too artificial. Some mechanism, now on fire, must’ve activated on its own.

And it wasn’t just the tree.

Even though we hadn’t stepped forward, a net launched up from the ground in front of us. Arrowheads and poison needles zipped past with sharp whistles. From the trees, spiked shields made of rope and wood came flying down like they meant to tear us apart.

That’s when the Lustful Bastard spoke in awe.

“Master, there were traps everywhere.”

“Impressive. Yongmyeong.”

Called by the Sword Demon, Yongmyeong answered respectfully.

“Yes, elder.”

“You don’t need to be perfectly accurate. Just by observing the terrain, can you estimate where the traps are likely to be?”

“I can predict to some extent.”

“Good. Then Yongmyeong, you’ll stay in front and keep setting fires. Mongrang and the Cult Leader will fan out to the sides to prevent the fire from spreading wildly. We’ll only burn the paths the assassins prepared while advancing with the flames. The traps will guide us on the right path.”

“Understood.”

The Sword Demon added one more thing for his disciple.

“But don’t use up too much energy trying to control the fire. You’ll need to preserve your strength to fight.”

“Yes, Master.”

The Sword Demon’s experience helped stabilize the tense atmosphere.

Because Yongmyeong had to both assess the terrain and set fires, our advance was slow.

But as with most things in life, you need to endure inconvenience to get something worthwhile. So we didn’t rush.

Amazingly, every ten jang (about 30 meters), we encountered a trap. The most memorable one was a massive pit big enough to drop fifty or sixty men at once.

As we passed by, I peeked inside. Sure enough, the bottom was filled with a forest of poison swords. Dozens of snakes slithered about, searching for prey.

They weren’t eating each other, which meant they were trained—bred by the assassins.

“They really went all out.”

I swung Fang of the Black Rabbit, slicing icy arcs through the air, or released blade energy infused with cold to disrupt the flames.

It wasn’t perfect, but somehow the original path kept revealing itself, so the fire didn’t spread uncontrollably.

A little later, Yongmyeong said,

“There’s a dead-end vine wall up ahead.”

We looked up at the wall blocking our path. Vines were tangled messily together, and the wall stretched wide in every direction. Especially upward, it was like a sheer cliff.

After studying the terrain, the Sword Demon nodded.

“Good find. The inner space must be quite large.”

Something about the vines covering the open space felt off.

While Yongmyeong searched for a door, slicing the vines with a dagger, and the Sword Demon stood deep in thought with his arms crossed, I infused internal energy into my voice and spoke.

“...Assassins. We’re here. Time to receive your guests. This kind of door means nothing to us.”

The Lustful Bastard looked at me and laughed.

“You really aren’t right in the head.”

At that moment, a sound came from the right side of the vine wall.

Grrrrrk...!

We all turned our eyes to the stone door, now opening on its own.

“What the—? Why is it opening?”

Everyone looked at me, so I said,

“Don’t ask me.”

“…….”

“Maybe it’s because Huimyeong Mountain’s wrecked. Or maybe they don’t want us to break this part. Let’s go.”

Just then, a new voice echoed from within the stone door.

“Come on in.”

The Sword Demon tilted his head and then spoke.

“Let’s go.”

The Lustful Bastard, watching the Sword Demon’s expression, asked,

“Why, Master?”

“The voice is familiar. I’ll know once we enter.”

***

As we walked through the damp passage, I muttered,

“Feels like we’re invading a rabbit warren.”

Yongmyeong replied,

“That’s a thing?”

“You ever raided a rabbit hole?”

“No.”

“Then shut up. This is exactly like that.”

“Yes.”

The Lustful Bastard mumbled like something ominous was looming.

“Isn’t something gonna come flying at us soon?”

After a tense silence, we arrived safely at the entrance and stepped into a massive cave.

I looked up with the group and took in the vast cavern. It felt like we’d entered a world outside the world. It was so spacious it looked like all the assassins could gather here and train at once. But what caught the eye was the network of cave openings in the yellow clay walls.

From those openings, assassins peered down at us in various forms.

What on earth was this cave built to shelter against?

It was clearly a hideout born from the will to survive even if the martial world collapsed. At the very top, there was only one cave entrance.

So someone was using the upper floor entirely for themselves.

The idea that a place like this existed inside a mountain was ridiculous—but the fact that even here, strict hierarchy was enforced? That was even more absurd.

From the topmost cave, a one-armed old man stepped out and spoke.

“Left Guardian, what brings you to such a shabby place?”

The Sword Demon stared at him for a while before replying.

“Who are you?”

He looked around the upper floor and recognized a few more people.

“Now that I look closely, there are some defectors here.”

Voices from middle-aged men rang out here and there.

“Didn’t you defect too?”

“Your arrogant face hasn’t changed one bit.”

I asked the Sword Demon,

“Senior, do you know them?”

He replied,

“Some of them are survivors who left during the succession dispute within the cult. But that old man up top—I don’t know him.”

I looked at the old man and spoke.

“Old man, are you the head of this little squad? You don’t look over a hundred, so I assume you're not that ancient. Start by explaining who the hell you are.”

The old man let out a long sigh.

“If you’ve also become a defector, Sword Demon, then you’re not our enemy. Must we really fight like this?”

The Sword Demon replied,

“You should’ve asked that with some manners first.”

The old man said,

“Let’s do this, then. If all of you kill the Cult Leader of Haomun, we won’t interfere. You, Left Guardian, come from a noble house. And you’re a man with enough strength to stand on your own. We’ll even fund you to form your own faction. What do you think? From what we’ve heard, you and he had no real connection before this.”

Just how insane were these bastards?

Even now, they were trying to hire the Sword Demon for an assassination.

The Sword Demon answered plainly,

“I refuse. Talk to the Cult Leader yourself.”

The old man turned his eyes to me.

“…….”

I looked up at him and rubbed my neck.

“Come down, you bastard. My neck hurts. Cut the crap. You're being a real pain in the ass. So just because I showed up with the Sword Demon senior, this is how you treat me?”

Come to think of it, they were clearly more afraid of the Sword Demon than they were of me, even though I was the one who’d invaded their stronghold.

As the former Crazy Demon, that was an insult.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

While I strolled forward alone toward the center, the old man now turned to the Lustful Bastard and Yongmyeong.

“Prince Mong, and Elder Heo’s disciple. You two have no interest?”

The Lustful Bastard replied,

“Unless you’ve got any beauties, I’m not interested. No? If you do, show the face first.”

Yongmyeong didn’t even open his mouth.

“…….”

I looked around and said,

“Everyone stay still. If you don’t want to die.”

Then I paused.

There was a contradiction in my words.

Because I planned to kill them all anyway.

Now was the time to put Elder Heo’s theory about yin and yang to use. I gave a quick warning to the others.

“Everyone, be careful.”

The Lustful Bastard answered, startled.

“What the hell are you…?”

In an instant, I extended both arms left and right. I compressed Frost Moon Palm into my left hand, and Flame Fragrance into my right, drawing in energy from both extreme poles.

“……!”

The sensation was just like Elder Heo had described—like compacting a snowball.

In an instant, my hands were wrapped in a dazzling white and blazing red light. Were the enemies confused? Or had they not realized the danger in my actions?

I gave a half-assed warning to the assassins.

“Stop pissing me off. If I combine these, this whole place goes up.”

The Lustful Bastard sighed.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The Sword Demon tilted his head, then warned the group.

“Everyone be careful. That’s not a common technique.”

I compressed the polar energies of extreme yin and yang, pouring them out through split energy techniques into both hands. Even I felt my chest pounding from nervous excitement.

The old man called out to me.

“Cult Leader of Haomun, what exactly are you doing?”

I responded to the old man.

“Something. Anyway, if you all come down and kneel, I’ll spare your lives.”

The old man replied coldly.

“I refuse.”

“Good.”

Suddenly, the Sword Demon gestured for the Lustful Bastard and Yongmyeong to step behind him. At the same time, he swiftly drew the Bright Sword and gripped it with both hands.

“Hm…”

Everyone else was confused, but the Sword Demon’s actions were a clear sign: this situation was about to go very badly.

He looked at me and said,

“Cult Leader, do as you wish.”

“Gladly.”

I decided to name the technique I’d never named before.

“Sun and Moon Radiant Heaven.”

I’d debated whether to use light (光) or madness (狂)—but figured it was time to stop being crazy, so I chose light.

Someone reached out, confused.

“Huh?”

With a grin, I combined the unstable snowballs of solar and lunar energy and launched them into the air.

‘Is this even right?’

I had no idea.

In that instant, white and red light furiously mixed. With a crackling zzrrzzzzrrrk! sound, the energies began to swirl like a stormy, cursed thunderbolt, spinning violently as it struck the upper floor of the cavern.

“………!”

Suddenly, everyone—including me—felt their hearing vanish in a collective wave of numbness. Then, like it was tearing our eardrums open, a thunderous boom exploded.

KWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The flash of light detonated, and the yellow clay cavern collapsed as if it had been swept away by the blast.

I was flung through the air by the expanding shockwave, ricocheting through walls as the yellow clay shattered around me, debris swirling everywhere.

There was a follow-up shockwave, too.

I flew a good ten jang (about thirty meters), crashed down, and stood up covered in dust.

“Whew. Well, I’m alive.”

I looked ahead and saw the Sword Demon crouched behind a dark energy wall formed from his sword energy. Behind that, the Lustful Bastard and Yongmyeong were pressed flat against the ground.

But more than my allies being safe, what really stood out was the scene around us.

The upper section of the cavern was completely—cleanly, ruthlessly—blown away.

We had entered a cave, yet here I was, looking up at the night sky.

The Sword Demon, still stunned, spoke to me.

“You’ll need to refine that technique.”

“Yes.”

The Lustful Bastard muttered,

“You really are insane.”

“Indeed.”

Yongmyeong added,

“We were in danger too.”

“That’s right.”

I took a moment to forget about the remaining assassins of Saryugok and admired the stars glittering in the night sky.

“Beautiful.”

Practiced a technique. Admired the stars. Killed some assassins.

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Good.