Chapter 369: Upheaval (2)
After leaving Lanzhou, Hwangbo Ak and the mbers of the Hwangbo Family set their course for Shandong, where their ho base was located.
They had crossed through Shaanxi Province and were entering Henan Province when a group appeared and blocked their path.
They were flying the official banners of the Martial Alliance.
"We greet the Head of the Hwangbo Family."
A middle-aged man from the group stepped forward and offered Hwangbo Ak a formal martial salute.
Hwangbo Ak recognized the man's face and na well enough. He was the commander of one of the Martial Alliance's combat divisions and a skilled martial artist who had just reached the threshold of the Realm of Truth.
"Good to see you, Fierce Tiger Corps Leader. That said, what business does the Martial Alliance have to block the path of our Hwangbo Family?"
"We rushed over the mont we heard the Head of the Hwangbo Family was returning from the Maitreya Luminous Cult’s hospitality in Gansu."
"Since when did the Alliance get the right to micromanage every little thing the Hwangbo Family does?"
When Hwangbo Ak made no effort to hide his displeasure, the Fierce Tiger Corps Leader replied with a troubled expression.
"Nothing of the sort, my lord. How could we presu to give orders to the Hwangbo Family? We only ca to inform you of the truth about those villainous people in the Maitreya Luminous Cult."
"The truth about the Maitreya Luminous Cult?"
Hwangbo Ak purposely put on a curious expression, prompting the Fierce Tiger Corps Leader to drop the bombshell.
"Their true identity is none other than the Demonic Cult."
"What!! Are you telling that's the truth?!"
Hwangbo Ak bellowed as if he were hearing sothing like this for the very first ti in his life.
Fierce Tiger Corps Leader inwardly cheered at that reaction and continued.
"It's the truth. We've been keeping a close eye on the northern trade routes where the Maitreya Luminous Cult trades with the West. We received reports that Dokgo Ryong had been slaughtering every other rchant group passing through and letting only the Maitreya Luminous Cult's caravans pass. Sothing like that couldn't happen unless they were working together."
"Those conniving bastards!! These pieces of trash have been playing us for fools this whole ti!!"
Hwangbo Ak's face went red as he roared at the top of his lungs.
"Indeed, sir. The Alliance managed to obtain this information at great difficulty, and we are now sending letters to every sect and clan to rally forces against the Maitreya Luminous Cult, which is nothing more than the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult in disguise."
"The Hwangbo Family will join the fight! They'll pay dearly for daring to deceive the great Hwangbo Family!"
With that, Hwangbo Ak turned to his clan mbers and issued his orders.
"You lot, return to the family at once and bring every last martial artist we have to join up with the Alliance!"
Watching her father put on this massive show from the back, Hwangbo Yeon was having a really hard ti hiding how flustered she was.
—F-Father, what do you an we're attacking the Maitreya Luminous Cult? What are you saying? Given the circumstances, doesn't the Maitreya Luminous Cult's account seem far closer to the truth?
Hwangbo Ak replied to the voice transmission she sent in a hurry.
—That's precisely why I told you to go back and fetch the rest of the family.
His tone was completely calm, utterly devoid of the fury he had been displaying while talking to the Fierce Tiger Corps Leader.
—If the conspiracy is real, we need to move our ho base as far west as possible.
Only then did Hwangbo Yeon understand why her father had put on that display of rage.
There was no doubt about it. He was playing the Imperial Family and the Martial Alliance like a fiddle just to safely evacuate their entire clan out west.
Everyone in Jianghu just assud the Hwangbo Family was a bunch of atheads with more brawn than brains. And Hwangbo Ak was more than happy to weaponize that stereotype against them.
—Do not breathe a word of this to anyone. If word gets out, we run the risk of the Eastern Depot sniffing us out, so you have to keep our own family in the dark too. Tell them we are preparing for war against the Demonic Cult.
Taking orders from the cunning fox wearing a bear's skin, Hwangbo Yeon nodded with a grim face.
—I will follow your orders, Father.
***
About a month earlier, inside the Lesser Sun Palace.
There sat Wi Jin-hak, reading through a letter that had arrived from Gansu.
"Hah..."
A wry chuckle escaped Wi Jin-hak's lips before he could even stop it.
"A grand sche to annihilate the martial world..."
He originally thought the Imperial Family was just playing dirty tricks on them because they didn't like them, but he never imagined they were scheming to sweep up the spoils while both sides destroyed each other.
"We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. If we beat down those self-righteous Orthodox Faction bastards, we'd just end up doing the Imperial Family's work for them."
As Wi Jin-hak muttered to himself, the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord, who had likewise just finished reading Il-mok's letter, cautiously advised. "Don't let it bother you too much, Cult Leader. In the end, nothing has truly changed."
"You're right. Our original plan was to take on both the Orthodox sects and the Imperial Family from the very start anyway."
The only real problem was that their master plan required them to lie low and build up their strength for ten whole years.
Sure, so ti had passed since then, but they still needed almost eight more years to get ready.
‘I suppose all I can do is hope the youngest buys us a little more ti.’
From the day that letter arrived, Wi Jin-hak spent days walking around with a suffocating tightness in his chest.
And one day, his Third Brother arrived at the main headquarters with a letter with him.
"Hahaha! Congratulations are in order, Third Brother."
Wi Jin-hak instantly picked up on it that Seo Wan-pyeong had achieved Transcendence and greeted him with a hearty laugh.
Just seeing that made the suffocating weight in his chest feel a little bit lighter.
But after reading the letter Seo Wan-pyeong handed him next, Wi Jin-hak felt the massive boulder crushing his chest shatter into dust.
"He's going to pull the Orthodox Faction people to our side?"
"Yes, Eldest Brother. He said he would use the conspiracy as justification and try to bring over the people he had built relationships with under the na of the Maitreya Luminous Cult."
As Seo Wan-pyeong laid out the contents of the letter, Wi Jin-hak was left absolutely mind-blown by the sheer depth of Il-mok's scheming.
"Hahaha. This is unbelievable. I never once questioned why we had to face both the Orthodox Faction and the Imperial Family purely on our own strength."
Why had he and their late Master set a ten-year deadline in the first place?
It was because he wanted to conquer the Central Plains using nothing but the Demonic Cult's own power.
But if they actually managed to recruit the heavy hitters of the Orthodox factions, they wouldn't need to wait a decade at all.
On top of that, turning people who should have been enemies into allies multiplied the effect several tis over. Their enemies would grow weaker while their own strength would swell.
As Wi Jin-hak stood there totally awestruck by his youngest brother's brilliant sche, a sudden thought popped into his head.
‘I always knew the youngest was sharper than this slow-witted Eldest Brother, but it's possible his talent might even surpass that of our Master.’
He allowed himself a warm smile at the youngest's gift for a brief mont.
—How can you join hands with those hypocrites?
—Il-mok has forsaken the Cult's sacred cause.
—Burn them all to ash and purify this world!!
A splitting headache hit him out of nowhere, causing Wi Jin-hak to grimace and grab his forehead with his right hand and a dark Qi churned in his eyes.
"Eldest Brother?"
When the startled Seo Wan-pyeong looked up at him with an expression full of worry, Wi Jin-hak lowered the hand he had pressed to his forehead and held it out in front of him.
"I'm alright. It's just a minor Heart Demon."
"I've heard a great deal about how vicious the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's side effect can be, but I didn't realize it would be this painful even for you, Eldest Brother."
Wi Jin-hak pushed through the headache and answered his worried junior brother.
"Haha. Don't worry. The worst is over, so things will only get better from here."
Seo Wan-pyeong seed to grasp the aning behind those words and looked at him in awe.
"Are you telling you've already reached the Extremity of the Heavenly Demon Heart Art?"
"I have."
"You really never cease to amaze, Eldest Brother."
It had been less than a full year since Wi Jin-hak had taken the seat of Cult Leader, which made it a truly staggering pace.
Seeing his junior brother looking at him with such deep respect, Wi Jin-hak chuckled warmly and brushed off the praise.
"Haha. You know as well as I do, Third Brother, that with Demonic Arts it's always the Extremity where the real trial begins. I've still got a long way to go before I can even hold a candle to our Master."
With that said, Wi Jin-hak shifted the topic back to the matter at hand.
"So, if the persuasion fails, our youngest is planning to return to Xinjiang?"
"Yes. He felt that clashing directly with the Orthodox Faction right now would only be doing the Imperial Family a favor.”
"Hm. On that point, his thinking lines up with mine and the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord's."
Wi Jin-hak stroked his chin and muttered, then gave a single nod before speaking.
"Then, Third Brother, I need you to head back to Gansu and support the youngest as the new Pavilion Lord of the Dark Shadow Pavilion."
Caught completely off guard by Wi Jin-hak's sudden order, Seo Wan-pyeong blurted out. "M-? You want to take the position of Dark Shadow Pavilion Lord?"
"It's a sorrowful thing, but the previous Pavilion Lord gave his life for the Divine Cult on that last mission. Even so, we can't leave the position empty. You were the Vice Lord of the Dark Shadow Pavilion, so it's only right that you step into the role."
Seo Wan-pyeong appeared to consider it for a mont, then bowed deeply to his Eldest Brother and replied.
"I, Seo Wan-pyeong, the Vice Pavilion Lord of the Dark Shadow Pavilion, humbly accept the Cult Leader's command and will serve the Cult faithfully as its Pavilion Lord. The Heavenly Demon Descends! Ten Thousand Demons Obeys!"
Seeing how much his junior brother had matured since reaching Transcendence, Wi Jin-hak smiled proudly and replied. "Good. I'm sure your desk is already overflowing with work as the new Pavilion Lord, so go on and get to it."
"Understood."
After Seo Wan-pyeong paid his respects and departed, Wi Jin-hak finally let himself crease his brow again and pressed his right hand to his forehead once more.
‘It really is vicious.’
Thanks to his innate talent and combined with the fact that he had begun training in the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts after already breaking past the early stages of the Realm of Truth, Wi Jin-hak's cultivation had risen sharply.
The problem was that advancing too fast had caused the side effect to grow just as rapidly in scale.
—Never trust those disgusting hypocrites.
—Burn all the wicked.
'Shut your mouth!! The Divine Cult exists to punish true evil! Not to commit mindless slaughter!'
He spent the next few days locked in deep ditation, constantly wrestling his Heart Demon into submission. Finally, a new report reached the main headquarters.
It ca from the north.
"To think he actually let one old geezer from the Eastern Depot slip through his fingers..."
Wi Jin-hak frowned as he looked down at the letter Dokgo Ryong had written.
Dokgo Ryong called himself a sinner for failing to carry out his lord's command, and while he said he would accept punishnt imdiately if ordered, he begged for it to be delayed just a little.
—Once I tear that vile bastard apart with my own hands, I will gladly accept whatever punishnt my lord sees fit to bestow.
How exactly Dokgo Ryong planned to kill an eunuch who had already fled to the Central Plains, Wi Jin-hak had no way of knowing.
He was just trying to figure out what to do about it when another letter arrived at the base.
It was a ssage from Il-mok.
It was a letter detailing that the Beggars’ Gang, the Hwangbo Family, and Wudang had shown favorable reactions.
‘So all we have to do is hold out until the Beggars' Gang is on the Eastern Depot's trail.’
It was clearly quite positive news, but Wi Jin-hak couldn't shake a nagging sense of unease.
It was all because of the news Dokgo Ryong had delivered.
And sure enough, his bad feeling was right. A few days later, yet another letter was delivered to the main headquarters.
—The Martial Alliance has uncovered the true identity of the Maitreya Luminous Cult. They are gathering martial artists from across the Central Plain and readying themselves to march on Gansu.
After reading that letter, Wi Jin-hak imdiately issued his orders to the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord.
"Summon the heads of every division to the Lesser Sun Palace at once. The ti to prepare for war has co."
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