So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon? Chapter 373 : Who Is the Villain Here? (3)

Chapter 373: Who Is the Villain Here? (3)

After dodging the blast of sword energy Il-mok shot at them, the seven Plum Blossom Swordsn spread out to surround him.

That title, Plum Blossom Swordsman, was only given to the best fighters in the Mount Hua Sect, and it ca with the privilege of learning the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Moves.

Seven Plum Blossom Swordsn fanned out and closed in from all directions, having either dodged or deflected the sword force Il-mok had sent flying at them.

The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art was a sword art built on the principles of speed and illusion, and if you set aside the Purple Mist Divine Art that was reserved for the Sect Leader, it was the most formidable martial art the Mount Hua Sect had to offer.

"Die!!!"

Clang!

Even as he took on the coordinated assault of Mount Hua's finest, Il-mok’s expression didn’t change much. He carefully read each of their movents.

‘Different from Ei or the Potala Palace.’

The Formations used by the Ei Sect and the Potala Palace had over fifty people in them from the get-go. In contrast, these seven n ford a Seven Stars Formation to execute a joint attack.

The Formation itself wasn't anything special. It was just a way to coordinate seven people, mostly just keeping them from running into each other. That said, it still had qualities that made it more troubleso to deal with than the Demon-Exterminating Tiger-Subduing Formation or the Vajra Lama Formation. The challenge wasn't the Formation, but because of the people inside it.

‘No openings?’

Every single one of the seven had reached the Peak Realm, and since they weren't relying on the Formation to boost their power, the usual approach of finding and exploiting one weak point simply didn't work. On top of that, they were all using the sa sword style, making their combination attacks perfectly clean and seamless.

"You will not escape from here!"

"Consider it an honor to die breathing the scent of plum blossoms, you filthy Demonic Cult dog!"

With their shouts ringing out, the Plum Blossom Swordsn all swung their swords at once from every direction, scattering countless flower petals through the air. With petals swirling at him endlessly from all sides, their combined assault had the added effect of making anyone who faced it feel genuinely dizzy.

For a while, Il-mok just let them carry on their routine. But as he watched the petals filling the air around him, a smirk crept across his face.

"I heard the swords of Plum Blossom Swordsn carry the fragrance of plum blossoms, but all I'm getting from yours is the stench of rot."

"What did you just say!?"

The mont the swordsman in front of him scowled at the insult—

Pat!

Il-mok pushed his lightness skill to its limit and burst forward, driving straight at the man. Countless petals filled his path, but he swung the Ascension Sword with a simple and clean trajectory. Monts later, the echoes of three swords clashing ran out and the petals that had been blocking his way scattered all at once.

The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art was a sword art built on speed and illusion, so Il-mok had simply ignored the illusory strikes and deflected only the ones with actual substance behind them.

"How did you...?"

The Plum Blossom Swordsman was visibly shaken as his technique was dismantled with almost insulting ease. But even though he panicked, the sword in his hand didn’t stop moving. But it didn't matter.

Clang!

The mont their blades t, Il-mok used the principle of redirection to deflect his opponent's sword and slipped inside his guard, driving the Ascension Sword straight into his chest. And he did it with a smirk.

"All seven of you are performing the sa swordplay. At this point, you'd have to be a complete moron not to see through it."

At first, the swirling petals from every direction had been disorienting enough. But soone who had already reached an incredible level of skill and had a natural gift for martial arts, it didn't take Il-mok long to see right through their swordplay.

"You insolent little bastard! How dare a filthy Demonic Cult rat like you—!"

"The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art is undefeatable!!"

Enraged by his taunts, the remaining six Plum Blossom Swordsn swung their swords with even greater ferocity. The scent of plum blossoms grew so thick it felt like they more than made up for their missing man.

"Well then, if the sword art isn't the problem, it must be you guys."

Il-mok dismissed the petals obscuring his vision again and drove in on another Plum Blossom Swordsman.

Schk!

It wasn't that their formation had major flaws. It was just that, at the end of the day, all seven of them were weaker than he was. Now that he was used to their moves, it didn't matter how many of them there were.

He cut through their techniques and took their lives one after another. Before long, every Plum Blossom Swordsman lay dead on the ground, and only Mokseonja was left standing with a dazed look on his face.

"How... how can a re Demonic Cult dog..."

Seeing the man refusing to believe what was happening, sothing wicked blood inside Il-mok’s mind.

"Hmm. You seem to have quite a bit of pride in the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art."

He muttered it like it was nothing special, and then he swung the Ascension Sword. Countless flower petals blood in the air and the scent of plum blossoms wafted from it.

The Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword that Il-mok had mastered encompassed every principle a sword could express. It was the brainchild of so deranged perfectionist who'd wanted it all. The principles of speed and illusion that ford the foundation of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art were second nature to Il-mok. Moreover, as soone who had achieved Transcendence in his own Demonic Art, copying and using the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art was child's play.

The only difference was that the petals his sword conjured were grey instead of the white ones Mount Hua was known for, a consequence of the different internal energy flowing through them.

Mokseonja stood transfixed, his eyes glued to the cascade of countless grey petals drifting through the air.

‘Blossoms Falling in a Shower.’

He didn't even notice his own head being taken from his shoulders.

***

While Il-mok was dealing with Mount Hua’s Sect Leader and the seven Plum Blossom Swordsn, the warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were cutting down Mount Hua's disciples throughout Jiuquan. In roughly one hour, every last one of the hundred or so Mount Hua disciples had been reduced to lifeless bodies.

From early the previous morning all the way through to this predawn hour, the warriors had been pushing through nonstop movent and back-to-back combat, so Il-mok ordered a brief rest.

The following morning, as he was loosening up his body after waking, one of the warriors ca running up to him in a hurry with a report.

"Young Master. Word has co in from the direction of Zhangye."

After pushing from Gulang all the way to Jinchang in a single day and spending one night resting, Il-mok had left a few Heavenly Demon Divine Cult warriors behind along the route to Jiuquan. They were guys who knew the lay of the land in Gansu, and he'd posted them at lookout spots to keep an eye out for the Orthodox Faction dogs.

"Zhangye. That puts them about half a day behind us."

The news that the Orthodox Faction's main force was on their tail made Il-mok nod, looking pleased for so reason. The maids at his side seed to feel the sa way.

"We've dragged them into the north, so I think we're ready for the next phase."

As Jin Hayeon said, luring them north had been part of the plan all along.

After sneaking his warriors into Gansu Province through the backroads, Il-mok had gotten so fresh intel that the Mount Hua bastards were looting towns to the northwest of Lanzhou, while the Zhongnan Sect was hitting the southeast. Because of that, he tweaked the plan a little.

"As planned, tell so of the n to head for Xinjiang. Make sure they leave a huge trail for our friends to follow."

"Understood."

Jin Hayeon acknowledged the order and stepped out of the hall first. Il-mok then turned to Hyeokryeon Seon-ah and gave her separate instructions.

"Tell the remaining warriors to get ready. We're heading south."

His destination wasn't Lanzhou.

Traveling south from Jiuquan would bring them to a rugged mountain range called the Qilian Mountains. The plan was to cross over those mountains into Qinghai to the south, then pass through Qinghai and push on to northern Sichuan where the Zhongnan Sect's disciples were busy running amok.

Once Il-mok's orders ca down, the cult warriors moved in unison from early morning. About twenty of them went west, making a huge ss as they went, while the other hundred or so made a beeline for the Qilian Mountains.

Though the Qilian Mountains were famous for being steep and treacherous, not a single warrior fell behind during the crossing as every one of them was a master of the Peak Realm or higher.

Even after clearing the Qilian Mountains, they kept pushing south for a long while, and by evening they arrived at a place called Delingha. They rested there for the night, restocked their ergency rations, and set out again at the crack of dawn the next morning.

Later that afternoon, while they were moving along the shore of the massive Qinghai Lake, a huge group of warriors suddenly blocked their path.

Il-mok and every one of the cult warriors couldn't help but show visible surprise on their faces. There were easily five hundred of them, and banners bearing the na of the Martial Alliance were snapping in the wind throughout their ranks.

‘Didn't they say the Orthodox Faction bastards were pursuing us from the direction of Zhangye?’

While the cultists were trying to figure out what was going on, the Alliance Lord, Cheok Pae-myeong, stood in the middle of his army and shot a satisfied smirk at the Chief Strategist next to him.

***

A few days earlier.

When news of the Demonic Cult's attack reached the Orthodox Faction people in Lanzhou, they moved out en masse. It took them half a day to reach Gulang, but the Demonic Cult warriors were long gone by then.

After learning that the cult mbers had headed northwest, Cheok Pae-myeong tried to lead the Orthodox Faction forces in pursuit, but Gongsun Hyeon stepped in and stopped him.

"Alliance Leader, chasing them now is useless. They've got at least a full day's lead on us."

"So you're saying we just let them walk away?"

Yangmuja took Cheok Pae-myeong's side.

"The Alliance Leader is right. The Mount Hua Sect's main force is up north. If those forces can buy us ti, we can link up with them and crush the cult all at once."

Just as others were about to chi in, Gongson Hyeon cut them off.

"We need to think rationally. The pursuit window has already closed. So instead, we should be moving to cut off their retreat."

"???"

Everyone stared at Gongsun Hyeon like he was crazy. They couldn't even catch up to the cult's rear, and now he was talking about blocking their retreat?

"Think about why those fanatics suddenly made a move like this. It's because Mount Hua and Zhongnan were operating separately. We're told there are only about a hundred and fifty of them, which ans the ones who crossed over here are definitely a special unit. So once they've dealt with Mount Hua, what's their next target?"

"Don't tell they're going after Zhongnan?"

"Correct. After finishing off Mount Hua, they'll likely cross the Qilian Mountains or the Daxue Mountains into Qinghai."

"And if they just cross into Xinjiang and run?"

Namgung Jin posed the question, and Gongsun Hyeon answered with a cool expression.

"Think of it the other way. The pursuit is already too late in the first place. In that case, shouldn't we be willing to take a gamble?"

Silence fell as the heads of the various sects and families sank into thought. The Chief Strategist added one more point.

"They're a special unit, so their numbers aren't large. Half of us will pretend to chase them, while the other half makes a run for Qinghai right now and sets up an ambush on the road we think they'll take."

In the end, everyone accepted the Chief Strategist's proposal, and the Orthodox Faction forces split into two groups at Gulang.

One group consisted of Alliance Chief Cheok Pae-myeong and the Martial Alliance warriors, Namgung Jin and the Namgung Family's warriors, along with fighters from minor sects and the Zhuge Family.

The chase team heading north was made up of the Buddhist Lord and his Shaolin monks, Hwangbo Ak, and Yangmuja along with Mount Heng’s disciples.

***

The Alliance Leader looked at Gongsun Hyeon with a trusting gaze, then turned his head and fixed his eyes straight ahead.

Cheok Pae-myeong drew his massive saber and pointed it at the hundred or so cultists down the road.

"The ti to vanquish the demons and restore order is upon us! Cut down every last one of those Demonic Cult bastards!!"

His command was the signal that set the great battle between the Orthodox Faction and the Demonic Cult into motion.

"RAAAAAAH!!"

With a thunderous war cry, the Orthodox warriors charged straight at the Demonic Cult.