Chapter 122 : It Was a Coincidence

Chapter 122: It Was a Coincidence

Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon came to see Yul Han.

And he brought with him the Sacred Flame Banner they had received for winning the team finals.

“What is the meaning of this?”

As Yul Han asked while looking at the Sacred Flame Banner, Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon spoke.

“I will return the Sacred Flame Banner and the champion’s sash—both the glory and the honor. In exchange, please grant me one request, Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”

Yul Han, who had watched the Crushing Faction struggle desperately to win this team sparring match, asked with a puzzled expression,

“What request could possibly require this…?”

“Allow me to go out and fight.”

“…What do you mean?”

At once, Yul Han’s voice sank heavily, and Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon’s eyes wavered with unease.

He was afraid.

Indeed, one wrong step here and it could be deemed rebellion or defiance, and the blade of the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult might come flying.

Moreover, from past experience, once the Vice Cult Leader drew his sword, he never left anyone alive.

Not only the person in question, but even their entire household.

Even if the Vice Cult Leader spared them, they would ultimately be killed by the Cult Leader.

There was no way he could not be afraid.

For the lives of the entire Crushing Faction hung on the words he was about to utter.

For that reason, Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon steadied his breath and continued cautiously.

“If we cannot undergo Unsealing Training, the Crushing Faction’s lineage will be cut off.”

“That is…”

Yul Han tried to say something, but Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon’s voice cut him off.

“I know that you are seeking a path for our Crushing Faction as well, just as you have for the other Red Army–Affiliated Factions.”

“Then why…?”

“As you have already tried, our Crushing Faction cannot survive without real combat. To be honest, since your previous attempt, there has not been a single method we have not tried. But we reached only one conclusion—that sparring matches can never fill that void.”

“So you intend to go out and fight?”

“I do not mean to stir chaos in the Martial World by fighting the Hundred Paths.”

“Then?”

“There are widespread rumors that a civil war is about to break out.”

The Government Office, rotted through by corruption, seemed finally ready to turn spears and blades upon one another.

Rumors were spreading that they were gathering troops for that very purpose.

Realizing that was what Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon was referring to, Yul Han asked,

“Surely you do not mean to involve yourselves in the Government Office’s conflict?”

Knowing what it would mean if the Bright Cult stood on one side of the Government Office, Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon answered quickly,

“We will thoroughly conceal the name of the Bright Cult. We will participate as wandering martial artists, gain only what we must, and return swiftly. So please, Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult. Grant us permission.”

Yul Han could understand the worries and yearning of the Heaven-Mixing Demon Crusher as he bowed deeply.

In his previous life, he too had writhed desperately against his own stagnating martial prowess and limitations.

Knowing that feeling, Yul Han pondered for a long while before finally speaking with difficulty.

“And the Cult Leader…?”

“I informed him, and he told me to seek your permission…”

Recently, the Cult Leader’s movements to entrust decision-making authority to the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult and strengthen his position had been blatant.

Even so, this matter placed more burden than support.

For matters like this, the Cult Leader would normally seize the decision first even if Yul Han stepped forward.

That he had instead passed it over meant—

‘The Cult Leader wanted to grant permission. He simply wished to see what I would think before making it final.’

Having organized his thoughts, Yul Han’s gaze drifted toward the Cult Leader’s pavilion in the distance.

I envied him.

Someone who received such boundless affection from his Senior Brother.

And I felt proud.

That that person was now me. Even if it was not my true identity.

Suppressing the heaviness settling in my chest, I nodded.

“Very well. But take the banner with you.”

“B-But, Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult!”

“Whatever the reason, martial artists of the Bright Cult are heading to the battlefield. I have no intention of sending them out like rats, hiding in the shadows. We did not train in martial arts to the death merely to be used so insignificantly. So do not conceal yourselves. Go openly as martial artists of the Bright Cult, fight proudly as martial artists of the Bright Cult, and return.”

“V-Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult!”

To Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon, whose eyes had even begun to glisten with tears, I said,

“I hope you all return alive. But once you head to the battlefield, I know that may not be possible. Even if some of you fall, leave behind no scandal. Be called brave, fierce, merciless if you must—but never be called cowardly or vile. This is an order from the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”

“I obey!”

Prostrating himself, Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon shouted in a tearful voice, his shoulders trembling with emotion.

That day, around a hundred martial artists of the Crushing Faction left the Main Fortress, the Sacred Flame Banner bearing the red champion’s sash fluttering at their head.

They were not even departing for a war of the Bright Cult, yet countless martial artists of the Bright Cult came out and roared in support from behind those who departed.

They had shown such outstanding skill and spirit at the Great Heavenly Martial Festival that they deserved no less.

Among the sects belonging to the Martial Alliance, the one that took charge of the matter of the Yeonryuk Merchant Guild assault was Mount Zhongnan.

Geography was one reason, but a greater one was their desire to vent the deep-rooted fury they held toward the Bright Cult.

During the Golden Flower Manor Bloodshed, Mount Zhongnan had lost their treasured Byeokun Cheongang. They wanted revenge for that.

Moreover, this was merely an attack on a single merchant guild.

It was not a task requiring supreme masters. Thus, Mount Zhongnan selected three Peak Master Level experts and seven First Rate Martial Artists and had them on standby to receive their guests.

However…

The faces of those who came claiming to be representatives of each sect were so absurd that the Sect Master of Mount Zhongnan, Malko Jinren, could only let out a hollow laugh.

The same was true for Byeokcheon Jinren, who had been decided to lead Mount Zhongnan’s masters in the operation.

A master of the water-based technique “Wall-Flow Seal,” one of Mount Zhongnan’s ultimate arts, he asked the Sect Master with a dumbfounded expression,

“Are we truly to take them with us?”

“What choice do we have? They are, after all, the representatives of the Twelve Great Sects of the Hundred Paths.”

Answering in resignation, Malko Jinren looked toward those who had gathered, claiming to represent the Twelve Great Sects of the Hundred Paths.

Not a single one displayed the upright righteous energy of the Hundred Paths—nor even discipline.

Well, they were all wandering martial artists who roamed battlefields.

Not a single martial artist from the sects they claimed to represent was among them—only pure(?) wandering martial artists.

He could guess the reason.

“Hah… If they were this afraid, they should not have attempted it.”

Just as Malko Jinren muttered, the Twelve Great Sects of the Hundred Paths feared the wrath of the Bright Cult over this matter.

So instead of sending their own disciples, they had hired wandering martial artists.

Their scheme was to deny involvement in case of emergency.

It was said that the one who had taken the lead in planning this matter was Jegal Giyeon, the Strategist of the Martial Alliance.

Yet even his own clan, the Jegal Clan, had sent wandering martial artists.

At this situation, Malko Jinren was beyond dumbfounded—he felt drained.

The effort he had made to carefully select disciples who had distinguished themselves in real combat now felt futile.

I could not halt things here.

The other two targets were already being handled by other sects within the Martial Alliance. Mount Zhongnan alone could not afford to let the plan fall apart.

Moreover, in this scheme, the Yeonryuk Merchant Guild assigned to Mount Zhongnan held the greatest significance.

It was the largest supplier of grain to Golden Flower Manor and shared deep ties with them.

If this place were eradicated, it was obvious that Golden Flower Manor would suffer a tremendous shock.

In the end, Malko Jinren decided to proceed according to the prearranged plan delivered by the Martial Alliance.

Soon, led by Byeokcheon Jinren and Mount Zhongnan’s masters at the front, more than one hundred and twenty wandering martial artists sent by the various sects left Mount Zhongnan and sped toward Mihyeon.

Their movements were fairly swift—at least they did not seem incompetent.

That fact lightened Malko Jinren’s heart somewhat as he watched them depart.

The first place to discover the Crushing Faction martial artists led by Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon, who had departed from the Bright Cult, was, as expected due to geography, the Kunlun Sect, which had been on high alert regarding the Bright Cult.

However—

“With the banner at their head?”

“Yes. Around a hundred of them, they say.”

At the disciple’s reply as he read the dispatch, the eyes of the Sangho Pavilion Lord—who oversaw intelligence for the Kunlun Sect—narrowed.

Depending on their composition it would differ, but by long-standing precedent, one hundred Bright Cult martial artists could exert enough combat power to wipe out a small or mid-sized Orthodox Martial Sect as nothing more than a warm-up.

In the past, he would have immediately raised the alarm across the Kunlun Sect and sent out message hawks, issuing an urgent decree to the Martial Alliance and its affiliated sects.

But…

“What direction?”

“Toward Gansu.”

“Gansu… aren’t they heading to Golden Flower Manor?”

“Ah! Then like before, the rice—”

Before the Golden Flower Manor Bloodshed.

Back then, Yul Han had been observed by the Kunlun Sect leading a rice transport unit toward Golden Flower Manor just as this large-scale movement of Bright Cult martial artists was being observed now.

At the sudden appearance of a massive Bright Cult force, the Kunlun Sect had followed past precedent—raising the alarm within their sect and issuing an urgent decree to the entire Hundred Paths—only to be criticized for overreacting without properly confirming the situation.

The Sect Master had said nothing about it, but the scorn and ridicule poured in from other sects had been known all too well by the Sangho Pavilion Lord.

Every letter they sent passed through the Sangho Pavilion he oversaw.

Moreover, a merchant punitive operation was currently underway in secret.

If, like before, they misunderstood this as another rice transport and raised an alarm—only to disrupt that plan—the ridicule from last time would seem like child’s play.

Once was enough to bring such humiliation upon his sect due to his own misjudgment.

Therefore—

“Confirm it first. Given the temperament of those Bright Cult bastards, if they were going to fight, they would not be marching with their banner raised. Let’s not stir up a commotion and embarrass ourselves again like before.”

“Yes, Master!”

The disciple bowed and hurried out, while the Sangho Pavilion Lord watched him with a heavy gaze.

One day after departing Mount Zhongnan, the Martial Alliance’s assault force reached a wooded hill near Mihyeon, where the Yeonryuk Merchant Guild was located, and rested with the permission of their commander, Byeokcheon Jinren.

They had rushed too quickly using Lightness Skill, and now they replenished their depleted internal energy through Energy Circulation and Recuperation while recovering their stamina.

As Byeokcheon Jinren surveyed those sprawled about resting, his junior martial brother approached and said,

“It seems they had at least some conscience.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you see the one lying over there? Senior Brother.”

“The one in the red short robe?”

“Yes. He is Red-Short-Robe Tiger Gi Hyul.”

The Red-Short-Robe Tiger.

Among wandering martial artists, he ranked within the top ten. Some claimed he was a Super-Peak Realm master standing at the threshold of the Transcendent Realm, though it had never been clearly confirmed.

“Wasn’t Red-Short-Robe Tiger said to be with the Government Office?”

“There are widespread rumors that war will break out within the Government Office. So wandering martial artists have been leaving in droves.”

“Why? If war breaks out, wouldn’t that be a festival for wandering martial artists?”

“A war of the Government Office is said to be a war of numbers—a war of annihilation. Rather than individual martial prowess, it becomes a brawl where they swarm like bees and hack at each other. Those who do not wish to die meaninglessly by the spear of a farmer dragged from his field seem to be withdrawing.”

“Then that one as well?”

At Byeokcheon Jinren’s question, his junior martial brother nodded and pointed at another.

“Do you see the one in the blue long robe?”

“The one with his hair tied up?”

“Yes. He is called Jade Wolf Hwan. His real name is unknown—he is known only by his sobriquet. They say he is handsome, and it seems the rumors are not entirely false.”

“What does a face have to do with fighting?”

At his senior brother’s rebuke, the junior hurriedly continued,

“He is quite skilled as well. He has defeated Peak Realm masters more than a few times, so many say he is a Super-Peak Realm master. Come to think of it, there are quite a number of wandering martial artists here with real ability.”

At those words, Byeokcheon Jinren clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, tsk. Instead of focusing on your cultivation, you roam the world, and now your head is filled only with worldly rumors.”

Embarrassed by the scolding, the junior martial brother stepped back with an awkward smile.

Byeokcheon Jinren once more surveyed the wandering martial artists.

For some reason, he felt more reassured than before.

Now he knew they were not merely bodies to fill numbers.

Addressing them, Byeokcheon Jinren spoke,

“Sleep while you can. Once the sun sets, we will move and carry out the operation.”

At his shout, people began lying down in various places. Watching them, Byeokcheon Jinren also entered Energy Circulation and Recuperation.

He too needed to replenish his internal energy and recover his stamina.