Chapter 149: The Corrupted Sacred Flame
“This lord is Dokgo Jinak.”
The short sentence echoed throughout the Heavenly Demon Spirit Mausoleum.
I swallowed and stared at Goeong.
The Goeong who had smiled while calling me his friend.
The Goeong who babbled ridiculous things with childlike innocence.
But the man standing before me now...
wasn't the Goeong I knew.
The playful light in his eyes had vanished.
In its place was a cold, indescribable weight.
His voice was different.
The aura surrounding his entire body was different.
The body was the same...
but a completely different presence now stood before me.
“Cult Leader....”
Yeom Yuhwa murmured in a trembling voice.
Then she immediately dropped to her knees.
“Have you truly regained your reason?”
Goeong...
No.
Dokgo Jinak looked down at her.
Then answered firmly.
“No.”
Yeom Yuhwa's shoulders trembled.
Dokgo Jinak continued.
“My consciousness, which had been sunk beneath the abyss...”
His gaze darkened.
“has merely risen to the surface for a brief moment.”
I couldn't hold back any longer.
“You regained consciousness?”
I frowned.
“What exactly does that mean?”
Dokgo Jinak's gaze shifted toward me.
The instant our eyes met...
a crushing pressure descended on me.
For a moment, I nearly dropped to one knee without realizing it.
So this is the gaze of the Heavenly Demon.
I instantly understood why the Ten Demons had feared Dokgo Jinak so much even after he'd become an idiot.
Dokgo Jinak looked toward the sword in my hand.
“There were resonances that awakened the consciousness buried deep within me.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Resonances?”
“One was the resonance of the sword you held.”
His eyes deepened.
“And the other...”
He looked around the mausoleum.
“was the resonance of a great soul sleeping within the Heavenly Demon Spirit Mausoleum.”
The moment he said that...
one name surfaced in my mind.
Dokgo Cheonyul.
Could that have been the cause?
I had crossed swords with Dokgo Cheonyul's remnant soul using the Heavenly Law Sword.
Through that match...
a new Flow had been engraved into me.
Maybe the process had somehow reached the consciousness buried within Goeong...
and stirred Dokgo Jinak awake.
As if he'd read my thoughts, Dokgo Jinak spoke slowly.
“I will not ask what you saw in there.”
"..."
“But there is no doubt that resonance awakened this lord.”
A brief silence followed.
Then Dokgo Jinak spoke again.
“I suppose I should thank you.”
That caught me off guard.
“Thank me?”
I frowned.
“What for?”
Dokgo Jinak answered immediately.
“Because of you...”
His gaze turned cold.
“the rats hiding their claws were finally dragged into the open.”
Rats.
It wasn't difficult to guess who he meant.
Sa Eumryeong.
Yin Soul Demon Elder No Hyeonmyeong.
Myriad Poison Demon Lord Gongya Dok.
And the other traitors who had moved with them.
I looked at Dokgo Jinak.
“You were aware of everything that happened?”
“Of course.”
Dokgo Jinak nodded.
“Although my consciousness was submerged beneath the abyss...”
His eyes sharpened.
“it had not disappeared.”
I stared at him.
“Then...”
“Everything this body saw and heard flowed down into the depths.”
His voice was low and heavy.
“This body laughed and babbled like a foolish child.”
He paused.
“But its eyes and ears were never closed.”
I was speechless.
Then that meant...
even while living as Goeong...
Dokgo Jinak had been aware of everything.
Calling me his friend.
Everything that happened inside the Heavenly Demon Palace.
All of it.
Yeom Yuhwa lowered her head even further.
“Cult Leader....”
Dokgo Jinak looked at her briefly.
Then turned back to me.
There were countless things I wanted to ask.
Why had he called me his friend?
Had that truly been Dokgo Jinak's own judgment?
But I held back.
There was no time to get lost in personal questions.
There was something far more important that needed to be answered first.
“Then there's one thing I want to ask.”
“Speak.”
Dokgo Jinak answered without hesitation.
I asked immediately.
“Was it really you...”
I stared directly at him.
“who extinguished the Sacred Flame?”
Yeom Yuhwa's fingertips trembled.
She had probably wanted to hear the answer more than anyone.
Dokgo Jinak didn't avoid the question.
“Yes.”
A short, firm answer.
“This lord made that decision personally.”
A chill ran through me.
I'd already heard it from Yeom Yuhwa.
But hearing the man himself admit it...
felt completely different.
The Sacred Flame.
The symbol of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
The holy fire the followers of the cult revered as dearly as their own lives.
And the Heavenly Demon, whose duty was to protect it...
had personally extinguished it.
I had no choice but to ask.
“Why did you do it?”
Dokgo Jinak fell silent.
For a brief moment...
a dark shadow crossed his face.
Regret.
Or perhaps grief.
But it disappeared almost immediately.
His expression returned to its usual unwavering calm.
“The reason I extinguished the flame...”
His gaze hardened.
“was to protect the Divine Cult.”
Yeom Yuhwa snapped her head up.
“Cult Leader...?!”
Her voice trembled.
“How could extinguishing the Sacred Flame possibly protect the Divine Cult?”
Dokgo Jinak quietly stared at her.
“Yeom Yuhwa.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
“As one who inherited the bloodline of the Flame Attendants...”
His voice grew solemn.
“you should know what the Sacred Flame is.”
Yeom Yuhwa bit her lip.
“The Sacred Flame is the holy fire that illuminates the souls of the Divine Cult's followers.”
Then she continued carefully.
“It soothes the wounded body and mind of the faithful...”
Her voice softened.
“and washes away the impure energies of the secular world.”
She lowered her head.
“It is the Heavenly God's blessing that binds the Divine Cult together as one.”
I turned her words over in my mind.
So the Sacred Flame wasn't merely a symbol.
It actually affected the minds and souls of the cult's followers.
A fire capable of soothing people...
and cleansing sinister energy.
There was clearly some mysterious power within it that I still didn't understand.
Then Dokgo Jinak spoke.
“To protect the great Sacred Flame...”
His eyes turned distant.
“and to protect the Divine Cult...”
He paused.
“I had no choice but to extinguish it.”
To protect the cult...
he had to extinguish the Sacred Flame?
What did that mean?
I quietly waited for him to continue.
“Do you remember...”
Dokgo Jinak looked at Yeom Yuhwa.
“the last Blessing Day held before the Sacred Flame went out?”
Yeom Yuhwa frowned.
“If you mean the annual Sacred Flame Blessing Day...”
She nodded slowly.
“I remember.”
