Chapter 106: Envy
Among the group that returned to the Bright Cult with Yul Han was the Ice Heaven Blade King.
There were several Ice Palace martial artists waiting for him within the Bright Cult, but what mattered most was the promise Yul Han had made.
The Ice Heaven Blade King decided to stand together in that mont of vengeance. For that purpose, he had even postponed the reconstruction of the Ice Palace and followed Yul Han.
What was amusing was that in the midst of all this, the Ghost Demon and the Ice Heaven Blade King swore brotherhood.
It was because the Ghost Demon proudly boasted of having obtained the Thousand-Year Ice Essence, and the Ice Heaven Blade King drew close to him for it.
According to the customs of the Ice Palace, anyone who obtained the Thousand-Year Ice Essence could claim a seat as an elder of the Ice Palace whenever he wished.
Of course, at the Cult Leader’s words—“Good. That’s one less mouth to feed. Take him with you.”—the Ghost Demon was startled and leapt up, shouting that he was a traditional demonic practitioner who had mastered demonic arts and that he would rather die than leave the Bright Cult.
The reason was the Cult Leader’s remark: “Naturally, the training of the Asura Sword Form and the Slaughtering Demon Art is forbidden.”
He had personally witnessed with his own eyes what effect the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon had displayed in the recent battle against the Corpse Ghouls.
Of course, it could not be denied that the most lethal force had been the Demon Wall Five Absolutes.
However, even without that, the Ghost Demon did not believe that the Cult Leader and the Vice Cult Leader—both of whom had mastered the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon—would have been in danger.
Naturally, the Ghost Demon’s desire for the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon only grew stronger.
The Ice Heaven Blade King, realizing during the exchange between the Cult Leader and the Ghost Demon that the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon had been made public, could not conceal his astonishnt.
The Ice-Binding Art he cultivated had a record of producing a martial artist of the Manifestation Realm.
However, it did not produce a master of the Manifestation Realm every ti. Even so, the Ice-Binding Art was transmitted solely to the Palace Lord.
Not even the Young Palace Lord could learn it.
Only after ascending to the position of Palace Lord and entering the Ice Cave—the thousand-year sacred treasure of the Ice Palace—would one finally receive its transmission.
In contrast, the Four Sacred Arts of the Heavenly Demon had, over the past thousand years, produced a master of the Manifestation Realm every single ti except once.
The Ice Heaven Blade King seed unable to believe that such a martial art had been made public.
“Was it truly revealed?”
At his question, Yul Han nodded.
“My Senior Brother granted his permission.”
In other words, it had been done with the Cult Leader’s approval. At those words, the Ice Heaven Blade King looked at him anew, and the Cult Leader gave a faint smirk.
“You should try it too. It’s surprisingly fun.”
At the Cult Leader’s words, the Ice Heaven Blade King’s eyes shone with a strange light.
The Ice Heaven Blade King, who had followed those returning to the Bright Cult, did not remain in the Main Fortress.
Despite the Cult Leader and the Vice Cult Leader saying it did not matter, they left the Bright Cult’s Main Fortress and settled in the Military Farm Village.
It was because they had heard that the Green Forest, who were in a situation similar to theirs, were staying there.
Perhaps because various groups lived together, the Military Farm Village, though one village, was divided into several factions.
There were even outer walls erected to divide those factions.
The Cheonja Stronghold, the Yangsan Stronghold, the Namgon Stronghold, and the Jade Forest Stronghold had even hung signboards bearing their nas outside those walls.
Seeing that, the Ice Palace also surrounded the outskirts of the residence allotted to them with a fence of brushwood and hung up a signboard reading “Ice Palace.”
It was shabby and unimpressive, but rely by hanging that signboard, they were able to continue the history of the Ice Palace, and the Ice Heaven Blade King and the Ice Palace martial artists were filled with deep emotion.
Besides them, many other kinds of people had moved into the Military Farm Village.
There were those who had entered as believers from Xinjiang or the Cheonghae Region, and those who had flocked from distant places such as Sichuan, Guizhou, and Gansu after being drawn by the Proclamation announcing that the Bright Cult was recruiting martial artists.
The Guardian Division, which managed the Military Farm Village, followed the example of the Green Forest and divided those people into several sections.
They were districts nad Military Farm Village First Cult District, Second Cult District, Third Cult District, and so on.
This was a desperate asure to allow a small number of Guardian Division Instructors to manage a large population.
In fact, after dividing them in this way, grain distribution was handled by allocating the total amount per district, leaving each district to distribute and manage it on its own.
The Guardian Division rely checked whether anyone in each district was hoarding supplies or operating unjustly, thereby easing their administrative burden.
Because of this, the place called the Military Farm Village contained no fewer than twelve districts.
Among them was even a district where the governnt troops who had guarded the earthen fortress gathered to live.
There was a reason they had left the earthen fortress and moved into the village.
First and foremost, the horse bandits had been wiped out.
There was no longer any need to guard the Military Farm.
In fact, the bandits who had entered from outside without knowing anything had been beaten half to death by the farrs and fled.
They had underestimated them as re farrs working in the fields with agricultural tools, and had paid dearly for it.
There was no helping it.
Among them were masters of the Green Forest, reford bandits, and even masters of the Ice Palace mixed in.
According to the Guardian Division’s doctrine—“Those who do not work shall not eat”—everyone living in the Military Farm Village had to participate in farming.
Of course, the elderly and the children were exceptions.
Unless the elderly personally stepped forward insisting on working, they were allowed to rest comfortably.
Among the Bright Cult mbers, there was a widespread belief that “If you toiled yourself to death when young, you have the right to rest in old age.”
This was a different matter from the jeering among the Bright Cult martial artists that called soone “the one who failed to die on the battlefield until growing old.”
Among themselves, they felt ashad to have survived until their strength waned with age, but that did not an they simply scorned them.
The Bright Cult martial artists knew better than anyone that survival was not achieved rely by fleeing and hiding.
Because of that, the elderly could drink, sing, and make rry in front of those toiling under the blazing sun.
It was their right.
That said, there were not many who truly did so.
The harvest at the Military Farm had not yet co, food was still scarce, and it was difficult to even eat one al a day.
Thus, the elderly voluntarily stepped forward to help with farming or, if their movents were limited, assisted with miscellaneous tasks.
They were happy simply to be able to work.
They believed that their labor would ultimately return to them as grain to fill their stomachs.
The Military Farm Village was noisy even at night.
The training they had postponed was carried out after the day’s farming ended.
In the distance, the Main Fortress of the Bright Cult shone with lights as bright as day even at night.
It was not because supplies were abundant, but because more than half of them trained through the night.
With the Bright Cult martial artists training like mad clearly visible in the distance, they could not afford to slack off in their own training.
That was why the Green Forest martial artists and the Ice Palace martial artists living in the Military Farm Village reduced their sleep and devoted themselves to training.
In addition, in the district bearing the signboard of the Ice Palace, the heat of that training was far stronger than in any other district.
The returning Ice Heaven Blade King had made the Ice-Binding Art public.
The Ice Palace martial artists, who knew all too well with what resolve their Palace Lord must have revealed the Ice-Binding Art, trained like madn.
Their fervor was so intense that the people of the Military Farm Village even called it a small Main Fortress.
At first, even those forr bandits who had no interest in training gradually took up their swords one by one and resud the training they had abandoned, because of the fervor emanating from the neighboring Ice Palace district.
The shouts that rang out through the night stirred anxiety in the bandits who had let go of martial training.
It provoked the thought—“Is it really all right for us to keep idling like this?”
It was not intentional, but the Green Forest, the Ice Palace, and the bandit district ford the outer periter of the Military Farm Village. Those who had first taken their places were the ones living in the Cult District areas.
As a result, even those living in the Cult District areas had no choice but to hear, every evening without fail, the shouts that flowed from the outer districts surrounding them.
At first, they clicked their tongues and muttered, “They certainly have energy.” But gradually, so began to linger nearby.
In particular, among those who had rushed here after seeing the Proclamation recruiting martial artists for the Bright Cult, a number truly showed interest in martial arts.
The Ice Palace district accepted several of them. Naturally, this was after they swore to beco mbers of the Ice Palace.
In a sense, it was part of the Ice Palace’s reconstruction.
However, among those oaths was a condition attached: “So long as we do not betray the Bright Cult.”
Absurdly enough, those who swore to beco mbers of the Ice Palace insisted that they could never abandon the religion of the Bright Cult, even unto death.
The Ice Heaven Blade King, who himself had been saved and had entrusted his vengeance to them, could not deny the Bright Cult. In the end, he accepted that condition.
Thus, unexpectedly, believers of the Bright Cult appeared among the ranks of the Ice Palace.
Once the Ice Palace district began accepting people, the stronghold districts did the sa.
It was even more absurd there.
Maintaining one’s status as a believer of the Bright Cult was a given. On top of that, those who stepped into the stronghold districts to learn martial arts demanded one more thing.
“We will not engage in banditry.”
In other words, they would not commit acts of brigandage.
“How can you beco part of a mountain stronghold and refuse to be bandits?” such protests were raised. But at the newcors’ question, the bandits had no choice but to fall silent.
“Then are you saying you intend to return to banditry? Does the Vice Cult Leader know about that?”
At that, the bandits were flustered.
Had rumors spread?
When Yul Han suddenly visited the bandit district, the Stronghold Lords all rushed forward and swore in unison.
“We will never engage in banditry again. We swear it.”
Yul Han, who had rely co to look around the Military Farm Village to see how people were living, nodded at their oath.
Their resolve to swear even to sothing that ought to have been obvious was not displeasing to him.
There was a saying—“A guilty conscience pricks one’s own foot.”
Perhaps because of that, after hearing what had happened in the bandit district, the sa oath arose from the horse bandit district.
“We will never raid as horse bandits again. We swear it.”
Yul Han returned with a satisfied expression.
Among the people of the mountain stronghold district and the horse bandit district, whispers circulated that they had nearly died.
The Vice Cult Leader, wandering the Military Farm Village with blood-red eyes dripping killing intent, looked exactly like a reaper searching for an excuse to sever a head.
In any case, because of that, the nights in the Military Farm Village grew even noisier.
The resounding shouts of those entering martial arts for the first ti in their lives echoed throughout the village.
If the adults were like that, how could the children remain still?
The greatest hope of the children in the Military Farm Village was to beco martial artists of the Bright Cult.
Perhaps that was why one of the villagers grabbed a passing Guardian of the Faith and pleaded.
“Could you not allow my child to take the entrance training examination?”
The Entrance Training Examination.
It referred to the test selecting children from among those who had co after seeing the Proclamation, choosing those who would enter the Bright Cult’s foundational training.
Entering foundational training was equivalent to entering the Bright Cult itself, which was why it bore that na.
The problem was that the examination had already ended.
Seven hundred had applied, and just over two hundred children had passed.
Due to the recent wave of poor harvest and famine, the children’s physical condition had been wretched from chronic lack of food.
Though it was a significant increase compared to the re dozens who had applied in the past, it was pitifully small compared to the ti when, every ten years, ten thousand children were brought in through kidnapping and human trafficking, and one thousand martial artists were forged in the Training Hall.
Even so, no one could dare request additional recruitnt for that reason.
They feared provoking the Vice Cult Leader’s wrath.
Thus, while the Training Hall fretted over the matter, an inquiry from the Guardian of the Faith arrived.
“So you are asking whether the children living in the Military Farm Village can be given an additional chance to take the examination?”
“That is correct. Is it impossible?”
At the Guardian of the Faith’s question, the Lord of the Training Hall struggled to suppress the corners of his mouth, which kept twitching upward.
“It is not impossible. However, I will first submit a report to the Vice Cult Leader and seek his permission.”
“I would be grateful.”
As the Guardian of the Faith rose after leaving his thanks, the Lord of the Training Hall asked,
“By the way… why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do they wish to beco martial artists of the Bright Cult?”
“It is the children’s dream. To beco splendid martial artists of the Bright Cult like the Vice Cult Leader.”
“A, a dream?”
“Yes.”
With a gentle smile and those words alone, the Guardian of the Faith departed.
For a long while afterward, the Lord of the Training Hall sat there blankly, before a weak chuckle seeped out from his lips.
He had heard it said that one feared even seeing sothing in one’s dreams—but never in his life had he heard that becoming a martial artist of the Bright Cult was soone’s dream.
In Xinjiang and the Cheonghae Region, when children cried for no reason, parents would threaten them by saying Bright Cult martial artists were coming.
And at that, the children would imdiately stop crying.
That was how the martial artists of the Bright Cult had been known—more terrifying and cruel than even tigers.
Yet now there were children who said that being a martial artist of the Bright Cult was their dream.
Hundreds of them, at that.
Sothing had changed.
From an object of fear to an object of envy.
Strangely, he did not dislike it.
“Envy us, is it? Hah, hah… hahahaha!”
The laughter of the Lord of the Training Hall rang loudly from his quarters.
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