Chapter 65 : Wave Sword Venerable

Chapter 65: Wave Sword Venerable

Hainan was an island one had to reach by ship from Guangdong.

For an island, it was quite large, and for over a thousand years only a single sect had taken root there.

Its name was the Hae-nam Sword Sect.

True to its name, it was a sect that rose by the sword and prospered by the sword.

There was a rumor that it had been founded by a dual-blade lineage driven out from the Eastern Lands, but there was nothing left to prove such a claim.

The greatest master of that Hae-nam Sword Sect was the External General Manager.

His sobriquet was the Wave Sword Venerable.

Though he had not been listed among the Seven Great Masters of the Martial World, he was an undisputed expert of the Transformation Realm.

He was now sitting face to face with the Tang Clan Head deep within the Tang Clan estate.

“Never did I imagine you were the Wave Sword Venerable.”

At the Tang Clan Head’s words, the elderly man with streaks of white hair smiled faintly.

“It wasn’t exactly something I could go around advertising. But still, you haven’t changed.”

“Hmm?”

“That stubbornness lingering in your eyes.”

At the words of the close friend he was meeting again after decades, the Tang Clan Head let out a small laugh.

“After decades apart, all you have to say is to criticize me?”

“You were like that even back then. Don’t call it criticism when I’m just stating facts.”

“Enough, enough. So why are you here? I was under the impression that the Hae-nam Sword Sect rarely came up to the mainland.”

“As time flows, standards change, and rules change as well.”

At those words, the Tang Clan Head’s expression, which had been colored with a smile, hardened. He had sensed the dangerous implications hidden within them.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m saying that perhaps it’s time for the world itself to change.”

“You… surely not…?”

Instead of answering, the Wave Sword Venerable brought up another topic.

“Things have been difficult lately, haven’t they? Because that Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult has been running rampant.”

“Hm… that much is true.”

“So much so that even you, the one leading the Tang Clan, have to tread carefully?”

“We have no card left to play. Ever since the Taiji Sword Emperor fell to his hand, we have nothing that can stop him.”

“Shall I lend you a hand?”

At the Wave Sword Venerable’s offer, the Tang Clan Head’s face brightened for a moment, but he soon shook his head.

Though the Wave Sword Venerable was in the Transformation Realm, he was not someone who could be compared to the Taiji Sword Emperor, who had been one of the Four Heavenly Forces.

And yet, that Vice Cult Leader had slain such a Taiji Sword Emperor with a single stroke.

“I’m grateful, but it would be impossible.”

“If I step in, yes. But wouldn’t it be a different story if my uncle were to move?”

“Your uncle?”

“We call him the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor.”

At that answer, the Tang Clan Head’s eyes widened.

It was because one of the Four Heavenly Forces had been mentioned—an individual known as the ruler of all wicked calamities and the sovereign of every sea in the world.

Some claimed he had been an Eastern Lands general like Jang Bogo, who once ruled Cheonghae. Others said he had been a general of the Central Plains imperial dynasty, while still others insisted he had been a statesman of the Japanese nation.

Such confusion was inevitable, for the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor had always moved together with hundreds of massive warships.

It was said that during the time of his activity, Japanese pirates had not even dared to show their faces in the Central Plains.

Of course, that was a story from fifty years ago.

One day, he had vanished without a trace, and afterward no one had come forward to claim succession.

And now, the name of that very Man-Sa Calamity Emperor was being spoken from the Wave Sword Venerable’s lips.

Moreover, he was calling him “uncle.”

“Is… is that really true?”

At the Tang Clan Head’s question, the Wave Sword Venerable smiled faintly.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

In response, the Tang Clan Head shook his head. Seeing that, the Wave Sword Venerable continued.

“That’s right. I have never lied to you.”

As he said this and gazed steadily at him, the Tang Clan Head suddenly grabbed the Wave Sword Venerable’s hand.

“Help me! I beg you, as a friend!”

To the Tang Clan Head, the Wave Sword Venerable was like a rope dropped from the heavens to siblings being chased by a tiger.

He had been so gripped by fear lately that it had even robbed him of sleep.

“Since it’s a friend’s request, I should help. However.”

“However?”

“If I’m to make my uncle take the trouble to come all this way, there needs to be at least a small justification.”

“Justification? What kind would suffice?”

As the Tang Clan Head leaned in close, the Wave Sword Venerable replied with a faint smile.

“Join us.”

“Join…?”

“The Unorthodox Alliance. It’s something we’ve been forming lately.”

“The Unorthodox Alliance… you mean the one said to be created by the Nine Mountain Giant King of the Green Forest…?”

“That fellow will need to be dealt with and forced to kneel before long as well. Yes. Once my uncle comes up to the mainland, he’ll take care of that matter too.”

At those words, the Tang Clan Head could not answer right away.

It meant abandoning the Orthodox Path and becoming part of the unorthodox factions. As he wavered, the Wave Sword Venerable whispered softly.

“The Orthodox Path is nice. It sounds nice, and it feels nice to boast about. But you have to be alive to enjoy any of that, don’t you?”

At those subtle words, the Tang Clan Head’s gaze shook.

‘He’s not wrong. Ever since I expelled people like Tang Yul, there have been many complaints even within the clan. If the Vice Cult Leader were to descend upon us now…’

“For now, I’ll gather the opinions of the clan.”

“That would be best. I’m not asking for an answer today either. Instead, I’ll pass news of myself to my uncle—ask him to come quickly.”

That, in itself, was also a problem.

If the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor came rushing over and they then refused to join the Unorthodox Alliance—

At that point, it wouldn’t be the Vice Cult Leader they’d have to fear, but the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor’s own hand.

Still, the problem right in front of them came first. At the very least, he did not want to end up like Kongtong.

After hesitating for a moment, the Tang Clan Head nodded.

Watching his friend, the Wave Sword Venerable smiled brightly.

The man sitting askew upon the Hundred Sword Throne—said to have been made from a hundred swords—looked to be no more than in his late twenties at best.

Yet at his feet lay numerous old masters with hair gone white, prostrated on the ground.

“We, the descendants of the Hundred Swords, humbly congratulate the supreme sovereign of all calamities, the Calamity Emperor, on your emergence into the world!”

The number of voices shouting as one was exactly one hundred.

They were the rulers of a hundred island fleets—battle-hardened veterans who, fifty years ago, had ruled all the seas under the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor’s command.

Looking down at them, the youth seated on the Hundred Sword Throne let out a soft chuckle.

“With a new body and new blood flowing through me, the world feels rather pleasant. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Everything follows the Calamity Emperor’s will!”

Boom.

The hundred elderly men shouted in unison and slammed their foreheads against the floor.

At the sight of their extreme reverence, a satisfied smile curved across the youth’s lips.

“By the name of the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor, I command you—go. Go and assemble a fleet of five hundred ships, then return. We will recreate the glory of the past.”

“Man-Sa Eternal Thousand Years! Long live the Calamity Emperor!”

The hundred elderly men let out a thunderous roar and withdrew from the grand hall like a receding tide.

Only then did the youth, the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor, remain alone, slowly turning his hand this way and that.

More than a full month had already passed, yet he still had not properly adapted.

He could not understand how he, who had suffered daily in agony at the edge of hell, had returned once more to the living world.

“I was clearly done in by that bastard.”

The Man-Sa Calamity Emperor muttered words no one could decipher.

At that moment, a martial artist approached him on his knees.

“Calamity Emperor, a message has arrived from the mainland.”

As the martial artist presented a letter with both hands, the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor asked,

“A message?”

“Yes. It was sent by the External General Manager who went to the mainland.”

At the mention of the External General Manager, the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor’s expression twisted.

The very person who had dragged him from hell back to the living world was that External General Manager—the Wave Sword Venerable.

Though he was a nephew by blood, he honestly could not even remember his face. Back when the boy’s name had been rising, he himself had not even been in Hainan.

He had heard that the child had been one his younger sibling saw outside of Hainan—living with his mother in Sichuan before later entering the island.

How such a fellow had unraveled a secret even Hainan’s legitimate lineages could not and summoned him back, he did not know. Regardless, it meant he owed him a debt.

That was why he had agreed to cooperate with the matters that fellow was pursuing.

Assuming the letter would naturally concern that issue, the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor took it in hand.

The martial artist, as if his duty were complete, retreated once more on his knees. Left alone, the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor unfolded the letter.

“Hoo. The mainland… Is it finally time to take revenge on him?”

As he rose, muttering words laden with hidden meaning, killing intent surged and spread around him.

Seated upon the Sacred Flame Throne—the seat symbolizing the Cult Leader’s authority—the Cult Leader read the report submitted by the Strategist with an indifferent expression, then picked at his ear.

“Which bastard is cursing me now? My ears are itchy.”

“You should try doing some good deeds once in a while.”

“Yeah? Then I’ll start by asking you.”

At the Cult Leader’s utterly soulless reply, the Strategist puffed out his lips and spoke.

“We’re building warehouses since we need places to store the rice when it arrives, but progress is still slow.”

The Cult Leader looked up at those words and asked,

“When did that start? Why are they still dragging their feet?”

“After a certain someone went to scare Kunlun with a group of martial artists, everything’s been chaotic. Instead of working, they just gather around and gossip.”

That certain someone cleared his throat.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

“You should feel some shame. Chasing after them like an overprotective parent just because you pointed a sword at your junior brother to scare him.”

“Hey! You were the one saying that repeated consideration makes people think it’s their due, and that I should straighten things out at least once.”

“A man nitpicking over words isn’t very beautiful.”

“Hey! Why is ‘man’ coming into this?”

“Then are you a woman?”

“Ugh, if you weren’t my friend—”

“If you weren’t my friend, I’d have left long ago.”

The Cult Leader glared as if he were about to devour the Strategist, then asked,

“So who’s in charge of that project?”

“The Blood Sword Unit Commander.”

“Huh? Why did you give it to him?”

“The Five Demons aren’t here right now, the Lord of the Ten Thousand Swords is babbling that he can’t do anything unless it’s an order directly from the Vice Cult Leader, and as you know, the Red Blade Unit Commander is roaming the Central Plains with the kids.”

“What about the Training Hall Master?”

“He said he won’t stand for it if the Vice Cult Leader kidnaps kids again to train them, so he’s frantic about filling manpower.”

It meant that all nine elders—excluding the Discipline Court Head, who was an elder in name only—had each been assigned their own tasks.

In the end, responsibility for the construction had fallen to the Blood Sword Unit Commander, who also served as the Cult Leader’s guard captain.

“So that’s why I haven’t seen his face lately.”

“And yet he’s not even by your side, and the work isn’t getting done?!”

At the Strategist’s outburst, veins bulging, the Cult Leader spoke in disbelief.

“I didn’t tell him to do that, you idiot.”

“Then nail it down for him. Tell him to finish the construction within a few days.”

“Hey. He’ll handle it. He’s got social standing and dignity—”

The Strategist’s voice cut him off.

“When the Vice Cult Leader brings all that rice and sees the warehouses unfinished, how do you think he’ll feel? And if he finds out that the senior brother he trusted was dawdling and caused the delay—”

This time, the Cult Leader’s shout drowned out the Strategist.

“Hey! Blood Sword Unit Commander! Where the hell is that bastard? Drag him here!”

At the Cult Leader’s roar, some of the Blood Sword Unit members assigned to guard duty dashed outside.

Moments later, the Blood Sword Unit Commander arrived at a run, and the Cult Leader snarled at him.

“Why aren’t you doing the construction properly and slacking off?!”

“Cult Leader, I’ve been wronged. I’m working myself to death—training the Blood Sword Unit, gathering intelligence, checking your security.”

“Hey. I don’t care. Build the warehouses first.”

“But the tasks I mentioned are just as important as the warehouses—no, even more so.”

“Hey, Blood Sword Unit Commander.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

“Think about it. The Vice Cult Leader brings loads of rice, and there’s no warehouse. How do you think he’ll feel?”

“That would be… not good?”

“Right. It’d feel like shit. Then he’ll ask, ‘Who was in charge?’ And I won’t hesitate to point at you.”

At those words, the color drained from the Blood Sword Unit Commander’s face.

“So? You still want to keep focusing on those ‘important’ things?”

“I—I was short-sighted. The warehouses are the most important. I’ll hurry.”

“Good. I hear there’ve been a lot of complaints lately about building instead of training, so tell the kids too. If they know the warehouses were delayed because of slacking off, the Vice Cult Leader will be quite pleased.”

“Y-Yes! I obey!”

The Blood Sword Unit Commander acknowledged the order in a rush and ran out.

Turning his gaze away from that retreating figure, the Strategist asked,

“What’s gotten into you? I thought you’d just bark at him like before and force him to do it.”

“Ah! Now that I’ve tried it, it’s oddly fun. I hated how they’d cower when I yelled, but when they tremble just at the Vice Cult Leader’s name—our Han—somehow it feels satisfying. Hahaha!”

Watching the Cult Leader burst into hearty laughter, the Strategist also wore a faint smile.