Chapter 124: Realizations Always Co Too Late
At the foot of the mountain where Byeokcheon Jinren had returned, Mount Zhongnan disciples stood gathered, their faces tense with anxiety.
That was how it was.
The martial artists of Mount Zhongnan, including Byeokcheon Jinren, had not crossed over the walls of the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
To be honest, it was not that they had sensed the approach of the Bright Cult martial artists from the beginning and withdrawn in advance.
When Byeokcheon Jinren reached the wall and halted the entry of the Mount Zhongnan disciples, it had rely been out of a selfish thought—he did not wish to stain his own hands with the blood of innocent rchants.
Thanks to that, Byeokcheon Jinren was able to receive the secular disciple who ca running in haste, carrying the urgent dispatch, outside the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
This had been possible because of the peculiar intelligence-gathering system of the Hundred Paths sects.
Just as the Kunlun Sect had been on edge regarding the movents of the Bright Cult, most sects cast sharp, watchful eyes upon those entering and leaving the regions under their control.
The mont the group of Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon, flying the banner of the Bright Cult, stepped into Shaanxi, Mount Zhongnan had noticed.
As soon as Mount Zhongnan beca aware of the Bright Cult’s entry, instead of wasting ti identifying the characteristics of their composition, they sent an urgent dispatch to Byeokcheon Jinren.
Mount Zhongnan’s urgent dispatch—ford by combining a ssage Hawk and a swift-footed disciple—guaranteed maximum speed at any point and under any circumstance.
Perhaps because of that, the Mount Zhongnan branch near Mihyeon, upon receiving the sect’s ssage, selected its fastest disciple, handed him the urgent dispatch, and sent him running.
The content of the urgent dispatch that reached Byeokcheon Jinren’s hand was simple.
It ant to retreat at once.
After hearing from the secular disciple why such an urgent order had co down from the main sect, Byeokcheon Jinren decided to comply without a second word.
It was because of the summons ssage stating that within the Bright Cult martial artists rushing like the wind, there might be Emperor Salyejin—the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
Thus, Byeokcheon Jinren decided to withdraw.
The problem was the vagabonds who had already crossed the wall and were spilling blood inside the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
Pressed by the urgency of the secular disciple, who insisted there was no ti to withdraw even them, Byeokcheon Jinren ultimately selected only the Mount Zhongnan disciples and retreated as though fleeing.
Even then, unable to feel at ease, Byeokcheon Jinren had hidden his disciples and watched the Yeonryuk rchant Guild alone from afar before returning.
“What happened?”
To his junior disciple who asked in haste, Byeokcheon Jinren replied,
“Nowhere did I see any sign of Emperor Salyejin.”
“Then who ca?”
“Among those I recognized, I saw Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon.”
“If it’s Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon, isn’t he the madman drunk on blood?”
“Indeed. He is known for his ruthless hand. Still, it is better than the Vice Cult Leader coming.”
“That is certainly true, but……”
And yet they could not rashly suggest striking from behind, because of Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon’s ability.
He was one of the Hundred Great Masters in both na and reality.
That ant he was a publicly acknowledged Super-Peak Realm master.
Unlike soone rumored to possibly be Super-Peak like Jeok Danho or Ok Ranghwan, he was a master whose strength had been clearly verified.
Naturally, for Byeokcheon Jinren, who was rely at the Peak Realm, he was an impossible opponent.
Even so, withdrawing entirely from here felt like a waste.
After deliberating for quite so ti, Byeokcheon Jinren wrote a letter and sent it with the secular disciple who had brought the urgent order.
He conveyed his intentions to the main sect.
If, by chance, it were accepted, the plan would see its end—amid the blood and corpses of the Bright Cult bastards.
As Byeokcheon Jinren gazed at the faintly visible Yeonryuk rchant Guild in the distance, his eyes were fierce.
The Martial Alliance, having received the urgent dispatch from Mount Zhongnan, deliberated repeatedly.
Although the Alliance Leader, the Shaolin Divine Monk, opposed it, the decision was once again entrusted to the Council of Elders at the insistence of the Strategist.
Thus, at the convened Council of Elders of the Martial Alliance, the dispatch sent from Mount Zhongnan was revealed.
After passing the dispatch around and reading it, the elders began offering their opinions one by one.
“If it is Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon, is he not one of the Hundred Great Masters?”
“That is precisely why we cannot ignore Mount Zhongnan’s words—that he is the most suitable target for real combat training.”
At the reply of the Strategist, Jegal Giyeon, another elder asked,
“Real combat training, you say. Do those participating in the Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan truly require real combat training?”
“After receiving this letter, I inquired about that.”
“And what did the trainees say?”
“They said it was only natural. Without experiencing real combat, how could they confirm the smooth application of the martial arts they had mastered?”
At Jegal Giyeon’s answer, the elders exchanged glances and discussed among themselves before speaking.
“The Council of Elders agrees. Let the trainees of the Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan strike at Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon and the Bright Cult bastards staying at the Yeonryuk rchant Guild. However.”
Jegal Giyeon looked toward the elder who added a condition, and the terms of agreent were spoken.
“Their identities must remain concealed. At this stage, it would be too risky for the Bright Cult to learn the strength of those participating in the Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan.”
“That is only natural. Furthermore, we will prepare an appropriate scapegoat to take the bla. The Bright Cult will never know that it was our doing.”
At Jegal Giyeon’s answer, the elders wore rather satisfied expressions.
Looking at them, Jegal Giyeon continued,
“We will proceed quickly. According to Byeokcheon Jinren’s report, it seems the Bright Cult bastards will soon depart from the Yeonryuk rchant Guild, so we must settle matters before then.”
At his words, the elders nodded. Having confird the Council’s agreent, Jegal Giyeon’s movents beca urgent.
If they wished to avoid rumors spreading, the most efficient thod was to wipe them out entirely while the Bright Cult martial artists were staying at the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
In that entire process of decision-making, the Alliance Leader, the Shaolin Divine Monk, was once again excluded.
It was the sorrow of an Alliance Leader without ability or real authority. Moreover, even his own sect, Shaolin, had dipped a foot into that affair.
In the frustration it brought, the Shaolin Divine Monk’s gaze lifted toward the sky where birds flew.
“I would rather have been reborn as a bird soaring freely in that sky. Haa……”
The Shaolin Divine Monk’s sigh was deep.
From the perspective of the Hae-nam Sword Sect, the disappearance of the Wave Sword Venerable was an extrely serious issue.
He had perfected a considerable number of the Hae-nam Sword Sect’s ultimate techniques.
Perhaps because of that, even the opposing faction—who had disliked how he continued intervening in the sect’s major and minor affairs after stepping down as Supre Patriarch—pressed for an imdiate search.
As a result, a group of martial artists from the Hae-nam Sword Sect left Hainan and ca onto the mainland.
They did not move alone like the Wave Sword Venerable had. For the Hae-nam Sword Sect, the mainland was a rather dangerous region.
Thus, those dispatched by the Hae-nam Sword Sect were the Wave Sword Unit.
Composed of over a hundred swordsn, their destructive power surpassed that of most mid-sized sects.
Their commander was the second son of the Wave Sword Venerable, a man called Twin Might of the Moon Sword.
Rather than a straight, ordinary sword, he used curved blades shaped like sabers—and two of them at that. Twin-sword technique was his specialty.
His realm was Super-Peak.
In both na and reality, he was a publicly acknowledged mber of the Hundred Great Masters.
Among the masters possessed by the Hae-nam Sword Sect, he ranked within the top five. Thanks to that level of skill, Twin Might of the Moon Sword was able to take the position of Unit Commander of the Wave Sword Unit, despite not having perfected the Wave Sword Art.
Of course, such a thing would have been impossible had the Wave Sword Unit not been the personal guard of the Supre Patriarch.
After all, the Hae-nam Sword Sect was known as a place that would feel wronged if it were not ranked second in the world for rigidity and strictness.
In any case, having landed under the command of Twin Might of the Moon Sword, the Wave Sword Unit struggled in tracking the Supre Patriarch.
Very few traces had been left behind, and inexplicably, only rumors linking him to Living Jiangshi spread abundantly.
Furthermore, they had to remain on edge regarding the movents of the Hundred Paths sects seeking to restrain them.
If even a minor clash were to break out, returning alive would be difficult.
For those reasons, while the Wave Sword Unit moved cautiously, unexpected information reached them.
It was news that the Wave Sword Venerable, who had been staying at a rchant group in Shaanxi, had been killed by Bright Cult martial artists.
Unable to readily believe it because of the Wave Sword Venerable’s martial prowess at the Transcendent Realm, a sword was delivered to them.
Upon receiving that sword, the Wave Sword Unit moved without hesitation toward the rchant group in Shaanxi where the murderers were said to still be staying.
The sword they received was the cherished blade that the Wave Sword Venerable had never let leave his side even for a single mont.
Because of that, the Wave Sword Unit, which had been staying near Guangdong, began advancing north toward Shaanxi at a terrifying speed.
It was morning, not long after the sun had risen.
While training together as usual, the Cult Leader asked Yul Han,
“But. If we keep the Sacred Fla Banner, won’t the Governnt Office misunderstand?”
“Misunderstand?”
“Yes. Sothing like, ‘Ah, so the Bright Cult has taken their side.’ That kind of misunderstanding.”
“But didn’t you say that even so, you didn’t really care about such things?”
“I did say that, but thinking about it calmly… we might not have much to worry about, but what about the believers? Unlike the past, our believers are scattered here and there now. The believers living in regions controlled by opposing factions might be persecuted—.”
The Cult Leader’s words cut off there. Before I realized it, Yul Han had already disappeared.
“Hmm. It seems he hadn’t thought of it. Well, it only just occurred to as well.”
Before the Cult Leader even finished muttering, Iron Demon and Profound Demon vanished as well.
They had chased after Yul Han, who had run off to retrieve the banner. Ghost Demon and Pageuk, who belatedly noticed and tried to move too, were stopped.
“You little bastards. The more I watch you, the more you think I’m soone to wrap up in a cloth bundle!”
Seeing the Cult Leader’s sharply slanted brows, Ghost Demon and Pageuk acted as if they had never intended to run anywhere and once more devoted themselves madly to their training.
They knew it as well.
That being in the sa Manifestation Realm did not an being at the sa level.
On the very first day he coaxed them into training together, claiming they were all in the sa Manifestation Realm, the Cult Leader had called it a sparring match and utterly crushed the four newly advanced Manifestation Realm masters. His martial prowess had made that unmistakably clear.
Watching the two whose feet had been effectively bound, the Cult Leader let out a faint chuckle.
In truth, he had not stopped those who wanted to follow their senior disciple out of a desire for power.
Dragging around a string of Manifestation Realm masters would not be good for what their junior disciple was planning, so he had halted them.
Perhaps because of that, as he imrsed himself in his training once more, the Cult Leader’s expression was exceedingly serene.
From deep within the Martial Alliance, in the Strategist Division, voices were flowing.
“The Wave Sword Unit is advancing north at high speed.”
At his subordinate’s report, Jegal Giyeon said,
“No matter how fast they are, they must arrive only after the trainees have cleared out the Yeonryuk rchant Guild and withdrawn.”
“Yes. We will move the sects along their route to adjust their speed.”
Nodding at that, Jegal Giyeon then looked at his subordinate curiously.
Ordinarily, once the report ended, he would have withdrawn without delay, but now he lingered, hesitating in place.
“What is it? Do you have sothing to say?”
“It’s… about the sword. How did you obtain it?”
They were not fools who could be deceived by a fake, which ant the genuine article had been delivered.
The problem was that this subordinate, who had been in charge of intelligence within the Martial Alliance Strategist Division, had never heard that the Martial Alliance had secured the cherished sword of the Wave Sword Venerable.
To the subordinate who was curious about that, Jegal Giyeon showed a faint smile.
“Information beyond one’s station hastens one’s death. Well then—do you still wish to know?”
At Jegal Giyeon’s question, the subordinate hurriedly shook his head.
“N-No, sir.”
Watching the subordinate withdraw hastily with a flustered expression, Jegal Giyeon wore a aningful smile.
The look in his eyes at that mont was different from when he faced the Shaolin Divine Monk or the elders—different even from when he dealt with the head of the Jegal Clan.
The one commanding the trainees of the Martial Alliance’s Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan, who were moving swiftly, was the Azure Dragon Sword King of the Namgung Clan.
Among the three who had advanced to the Manifestation Realm from among the trainees, the most worldly was the Azure Dragon Sword King.
What that ant was this: unlike him, Unyeon Dharma King and the Heavenly Flower Sword King—having attained enlightennt and reached the Manifestation Realm—were true to their Buddhist and Daoist origins and had shown little interest in worldly affairs afterward.
In truth, they were participating in this matter only because a stern command had co down from their main sects; they were not particularly inclined toward it.
The Azure Dragon Sword King was the sa.
He too had attained enlightennt.
The world as seen after reaching the Manifestation Realm differed from when he had been at the Transcendent Realm, and it differed again from how the world appeared with the weight of age.
Everywhere, the thought arose—‘Is it truly necessary to go this far?’
Even so, what drove the Azure Dragon Sword King to take the lead was his position as an elder of the Namgung Clan.
Before attaining enlightennt and reaching the Manifestation Realm, he had repeatedly told the younger generation talents of the clan to throw away their lives like blades of grass for the developnt and glory of the clan.
Having said such words, he himself could not step back.
Yet as he ran at the front and glanced back at the trainees following behind, there was no fervor in his eyes.
And the sa was true for Unyeon Dharma King and the Heavenly Flower Sword King when their gazes t his.
Only now could he understand why the Taiji Sword Emperor of Wudang, now deceased, had been so reluctant to involve himself in external conflicts.
As that realization sank deeply within him, the voice of one of the younger generation talents among the trainees reached his ears.
“The target is in sight!”
At those words, the Azure Dragon Sword King turned his gaze toward the complex of pavilion residences visible in the distance.
It was the Yeonryuk rchant Guild.
Turning his head again to et the eyes of Unyeon Dharma King and the Heavenly Flower Sword King, the Azure Dragon Sword King squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them.
“We charge in as we are. Cut down everything in sight!”
“Yes!”
Hearing the trainees’ response, the Azure Dragon Sword King looked heavily at the Yeonryuk rchant Guild drawing ever closer.
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