So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon? Chapter 376 : A Complete Mess (1)

Chapter 376: A Complete ss (1)

Gongsun Hyeon. The Martial Alliance's Chief Strategist, and soone his old classmates still called by his designation, Agent Number Two.

From the mont the Alliance Leader had charged headlong into the battlefield, he'd felt a nagging sense of dread that he couldn't quite shake.

At first, he wrote it off as his own paranoia. Strategists were by nature professional naggers who always expected the worst out of habit. And for a while, it seed like his anxiety really was unfounded.

The Alliance Leader had launched himself at the young Demonic Cult fighter who appeared to be leading the enemy and driven into him with an overwhelming force.

But that only lasted so long.

After about a quarter-hour of hamring the young man back, the Alliance Leader got dragged into sothing that could only be described as a brutal dogfight.

And then...

"T-The Alliance Leader has fallen!!"

And just like that, he t a pitiful end on the battlefield with a hole through his stomach.

The mont his dread beca reality, Gongsun Hyeon clenched his jaw and snapped his gaze to the right.

"How much longer are you planning to just stand there watching!!"

The target of Gongsun Hyeon's furious shouting was none other than Zhuge Mun, the Head of the Zhuge Family.

For reasons Gongsun Hyeon still couldn't fully explain, Zhuge Mun had stayed behind at the rear alongside him rather than joining the fight. And it wasn't just Zhuge Mun either; a portion of the Zhuge Family's fighters had hung back with him, and while the rest had officially joined the fray, they were hardly fighting the Demonic Cultists. Instead, they were pulling their punches and prioritizing defense.

In response to the accusation, Zhuge Mun simply gave an unbothered sigh.

"We're doing what we can. If anything, the Alliance Leader charging in like that is what tanked morale."

He wasn't wrong about that part.

The Alliance Leader's death had thrown the Orthodox Faction fighters into chaos, and right in the middle of that chaos, the Demonic Cult's leader had stepped in front of Namgung Jin, and now a one-sided slaughter looked like it was about to begin.

"We should prepare to fall back."

Gongsun Hyeon was just about to fire back at Zhuge Mun's casual remark when sothing caught his eye. Far to the north, a massive group of figures was kicking up a cloud of dust as they closed in at incredible speed.

"You filthy Demonic Cult bastards!! I, Yangmuja, will kill every last one of you!!"

It was the pursuit team that had headed north after the Demonic Cult.

There was a reason why they, who had been separated by about half a day's distance, were able to arrive here so quickly.

***

Earlier, as they'd been making their way toward Zhangye County, sothing caught the Orthodox forces' attention.

They spotted a thick plu of gray smoke rising into the sky in the distance.

"Looks like those Demonic Cult bastards left so scouts behind."

Hearing Yangmuja swear like a sailor rather than a Taoist priest, Hwangbo Ak nodded in agreent. Seems that way. We need to chase them down before they get any further."

Yangmuja nodded at Hwangbo Ak's suggestion, but the Buddha Venerable walking beside them suddenly spoke up in opposition. "What if we change course now and head for Qinghai instead? Amitabha."

"What are you talking about? Changing direction at this point?"

"Please look at where that smoke has risen from. No matter how I look at it, we will not be able to catch up by chasing from behind."

As Hwangbo Ak and Yangmuja fell into quiet deliberation, the Buddha Venerable spoke again.

"What happened to the Mount Hua Sect is unfortunate, but their own greed is what brought disaster down on them. If the two of you still feel compelled, then by all ans, continue north. This monk will take his disciples to Qinghai."

With that final word, the Buddha Venerable and his Shaolin monks imdiately marched off toward the source of the smoke. When they confird that no Demonic Cult’s presence remains, they changed course for Qinghai.

Yangmuja watched the Shaolin monks leave and then went after them. Hwangbo Ak and the remaining fighters naturally followed suit and turned south as well.

***

Back at the battlefield, Gongsun Hyeon watched the reinforcents approaching with a cold expression and turned to Zhuge Mun.

"You and I will be having a very serious conversation about all of this later."

But before the warning had even finished leaving his mouth, a shout rang out from the east.

"You're all being deceived!!"

Both Gongsun Hyeon and Zhuge Mun turned toward the voice at the sa ti.

It was the Beggar King, and he wasn't alone. Alongside him was the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal.

***

A few days earlier.

While Orthodox Faction forces were still converging on the now-leaderless Gansu, the Beggar King had paid a visit to the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal at Mount Wudang.

"So then, what they told us was true?"

The Beggar King nodded at the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal's question. "We tracked down the information they gave us and cross-referenced it with things our people in the Beggars’ Gang had dismissed as useless over the years. The odds that it's true are pretty high."

When they dug deeper, several pieces of information they had previously dismissed as aningless rumors all traced straight back to the Eastern Depot.

"We can't be one hundred percent certain yet, but based on the circumstantial evidence, I'd say there's a ninety percent chance.

Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal's expression turned grave. "We have to stop this war between the Orthodox Faction and the Demonic Cult from happening."

The Beggar King gave a firm nod, and the two of them set out from Mount Wudang imdiately with Wudang's disciples falling in behind them. The beggars who had gathered in the area around the mountain also followed the Beggar King westward.

After traveling for several days straight, they finally reached Lanzhou where they were t with the unexpected news of Mount Hua Sect and Zhongnan Sect’s brutal conduct. Not only that, but there was also news about the Demonic Cult’s ambushes and the massive swarm of Orthodox martial artists that had rushed out of Lanzhou to hunt them down.

They pushed north again and found that the massive swarm of Orthodox Faction’s martial artists had split into two in Gulang County.

"Sothing tells they went to Qinghai."

"Knowing that Il-mok fellow's temperant, it is certain that he wouldn't be able just to leave the Zhongnan Sect be."

Because ti was running out, they pushed their lightness skill to the absolute limit without a single second of rest and that’s how they ended up arriving at the battlefield right now.

***

With shouts erupting from both north and east and people flooding in from all sides, the battlefield descended into confusion almost instantly. Il-mok seized the opening and channeled his Qi to form a Force Qi Sphere and launched it to Namgung Jin’s strike head-on.

BOOM!!

The sheer collision sent jagged fragnts of Qi shredding into the surroundings, and Il-mok rode the massive recoil to launch himself backward to bellow an order.

"Fall back and regroup!!"

At his call, the Demonic Cult fighters who had been deep in combat gradually snapped back to their senses and began pulling away.

"Don't you dare turn your back on !"

Namgung Jin whipped his sword toward Il-mok, but shouts rang out again from north and east before he could follow through.

"Cut down every last Demonic Cult bastard!!"

"You are all being played by the Eastern Depot!! Sheathe your weapons this instant!!"

Hearing the Beggar King's desperate shout, everyone who had been about to re-engage froze.

It was all due to the sudden, completely unexpected ntion of the Eastern Depot.

Had anyone else spouted those words, they would have been written off as the ravings of a madman, but since they ca straight from the mouth of the Beggar King, no one could afford to ignore them.

"The Eastern Depot's doing?! What the hell are you talking about, Beggar King?!"

True to his explosive martial arts, Yangmuja barked back imdiately, but the Beggar King pivoted to a different question.

"The Alliance Leader! Where's the Alliance Leader?!"

A cold silence fell over the crowd at that, leaving the Beggar King and the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal both puzzled.

That’s when Il-mok’s unapologetic shout echoed out and their confusion rapidly morphed into utter disbelief.

"If you're looking for the Alliance Leader, I already killed him!"

"..."

They both knew Il-mok was a monster, but neither of them had anticipated that the Alliance Leader would have been taken out so quickly.

Still, there was no ti to be stunned. The Beggar King shook it off quickly and shouted out.

"The Alliance Leader was the Eastern Depot's puppet!!"

"What kind of unhinged bullshit is that?!"

It wasn't Yangmuja who answered this ti.

Unable to endure it any longer, Gongsun Hyeon, who had been carefully observing the situation, forcibly inserted himself into the argunt.

"Unless the Alliance Leader lost his mind, there's absolutely no reason for him to suddenly play the role of the Eastern Depot's lapdog!"

The Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal stepped in to answer.

"He was the Imperial Family's dog from the very beginning."

To back that up, the Beggar King brought up several specific incidents.

The most notable was sothing he'd heard from Il-mok, regarding the war against the Blood Cult. "After thoroughly investigating the ruins of Guizhou Province where the Blood Cult supposedly carried out their massacre, we found unmistakable traces of the Eastern Depot!"

Of course, he purposefully omitted the fact that he got this tip from Il-mok.

It's already absurd enough to claim the Alliance Leader was an Eastern Depot puppet, but why on earth would the Imperial Court slaughter its own innocent citizens and go through the trouble of disguising themselves as the Blood Cult to do it?!"

Gongsun Hyeon had the instinct that letting this drag on would be dangerous, so before the Beggar King or the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal could get another word in, he shouted again.

"What are you all waiting for?! Kill the Demonic Cult fighters, now!!"

In the middle of all that turmoil, a handful of Martial Alliance fighters responded to his order and launched themselves at the Demonic Cult. They were sleeper agents deeply planted inside the Martial Alliance by the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Their sudden charge was all it took for Namgung Jin who had been watching the situation unfold to draw his sword again and go straight at Il-mok.

"Head of the Namgung Family, what the Beggar King said is true!!"

Il-mok desperately shouted to pacify the man, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"The blood of my people is already staining your people’s hands. What good does any of that do now?!"

As if fueled by Namgung Jin's roar, the martial artists of the Namgung Family hoisted their weapons and launched themselves at the Demonic Cultists.

With the flas of war reigniting, Yangmuja, completely blinded by his own thirst for glory, decided to throw his weight into the fray.

"Disciples of Mount Heng! Butcher every last one of those Demonic Cult scumbags!!"

He charged back at them from the very front with a shout, and the Mount Heng disciples followed close behind.

"Dammit."

The Beggar King swore under his breath and turned to his people.

"All mbers of the Beggars' Gang, break up these fights!"

With that, he pushed his lightness skill to full speed to get to Yangmuja.

"Very well then."

Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal also headed into the fray with the Wudang Taoists close behind.

As the battlefield devolved back into chaos, the previously silent Buddha Venerable finally gave an order to his Shaolin monks alongside a heavy Buddhist chant.

"Amitabha. Subdue the demons who bring disorder to the world."

Seeing the Buddha Venerable charging into the fray, Hwangbo Ak thought to himself for a mont before planting himself squarely in the Buddha Venerable’s path.

"My apologies, but this seat has decided to trust what Senior Beggar King said."

"...Amitabha."

The Buddha Venerable looked at him with an expression of quiet sorrow and took his fighting stance.

Hwangbo Ak and Gong Hwan.

The Fist King and the Buddha Venerable.

"Please, trust what Senior Beggar King and Senior Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal said."

"Amitabha. How can I stand by while evildoers who have trained in Demonic Arts roam free?"

Yangmuja and the Beggar King.

"You've finally lost it, you glorified beggar!"

"You glory-obsessed Taoist bastard!!!"

"What did you say?! Did you just call a bastard?!"

Il-mok and Namgung Jin.

"Face reality, Head of the Namgung Family!!"

"Do you think your silver tongue can fool ?!"

Supre masters clashed in every corner of the battlefield, sparking massive wars between the Demonic Cult and the Martial Alliance.

The Beggars' Gang against the Mount Heng Sect.

Shaolin against Wudang.

The Zhuge Family against the Namgung Family.

With martial artists from dozens of minor sects thoroughly mixed into the at grinder, it was pure pandemonium.

And sohow, the chaos was ever so slowly beginning to sort itself out.

And it was entirely thanks to the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal and the Wudang Sect.

Living up to their reputation of absolute neutrality, they threw themselves between the warring factions to diate the two warring factions.

Especially since the other supre masters were too busy fighting each other to intervene.

With no one to stop him, the Supre Ultimate Sword Immortal beca a blur across the battlefield, systematically striking pressure points to non-lethally knock out warriors and drag them out of the fray.

And on top of that, "Support the Beggars’ Gang and Wudang."

The Zhuge Family, who had been conspicuously holding back this entire ti, suddenly threw their weight entirely behind the peacekeepers.

"Chief Strategist Gongsun Hyeon," Zhuge Mun said and flashed a cold sneer at him, "it seems you and I will be having a very serious conversation about all of this later.”

With that, several warriors of the Zhuge Family lunged at Gongsun Hyeon.

Thanks to the Zhuge Family's sudden intervention, the battlefield finally felt like it was beginning to stabilize. The Beggars’ Gang and Demonic Cult fighters were also operating on orders from the Beggar King and Il-mok, so rather than pressing the attack, they were holding defensive stances and not pushing forward.

Unfortunately, that montary peace was shattered almost imdiately.

From the eastern horizon, yet another massive ard group was blazing toward the battlefield using high-speed movent techniques.

"Kill every last Demonic Cult rats!!"

It was the Taoists of the Zhongnan Sect.