Extreme Heaven Conference 7
“The Young Leader contest will take place in half a month. Are there any objections?”
There was no opposition. Naturally, the Young Leader contest was confirmed for half a month later. With that, this year’s Extreme Heaven Conference came to a close.
The moment the meeting adjourned, Cheon Yu was the first to vacate his seat, and the others vanished from the hall one after another.
Shin Gi-woon did not move. Now that the Extreme Heaven Conference had ended and the shield named Cheon Yu had disappeared, if he carelessly took the first step there was no small chance of picking a fight. Even the Cult Leader could no longer protect him beyond this point.
Everyone still in the hall had already realized it. The Cult Leader had marked Shin Gi-woon as the Young Leader.
He would likely face the heaviest checks during the Young Leader contest. Moreover, merely supporting Shin Gi-woon carried no shortage of implications.
Organizing the Myeolcheon Squad—which hunted Cheongung—as a unit directly under the Young Leader. To recognize the Myeolcheon Squad’s independent authority, using the vacant Young Leader seat was the cleanest way to convince the others. Once most of the experts had filed out of the hall, the only ones left were the unit leaders belonging to Guangming Palace and Shin Gi-woon himself.
Ma Jin-cheon, as the Great Law Protector, had left together with the Cult Leader. Shin Gi-woon now found himself facing the three unit leaders.
“The Myeolcheon Squad… I expected it, but I never thought you’d leave our unit this quickly.”
“I’m sorry. It’s not that the unit is bad—it’s a matter of efficiency…”
“No. It means the Thousand Transformations Soul Chasing Squad is too small a vessel to hold someone of your caliber. Could I stop you? You’re about to become the Young Leader, after all.”
Shindogun was already treating Shin Gi-woon as the Young Leader. Frankly, it was a natural reaction. The age of those who entered the Young Leader contest was fixed.
No matter how many there were, they could not exceed thirty. Cheon Yu had not yet reached sixty.
Under the assumption that Cheon Yu would die a natural death without incident, if a demonic practitioner past thirty became Young Leader they might soon have to replace the Cult Leader again.
In other words, among martial artists who had not yet reached thirty, the one outstanding in both strategy and martial prowess would become Cult Leader. The only person who met those conditions was Shin Gi-woon alone.
An Extreme Demon expert. Plus the schemes he had displayed during the missions of the Thousand Transformations Soul Chasing Squad.
No one else could even be imagined as becoming Young Leader.
“I have something to ask regarding the personnel for the Myeolcheon Squad.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“A Transcendent expert that you can control at your level… I recall there’s one in our unit.”
“I think I know who you mean too.”
Yeom Gyeong-hong’s question and Sama Rin’s agreement. Shin Gi-woon smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
“I’m sorry to both of you, but… it seems I’ll have to borrow the kids.”
“That Jin kid hasn’t reached Transcendent yet. He has no enlightenment, but his external arts alone are at a level where ordinary Transcendent experts are no match.”
As Shin Gi-woon expected, Ma Ra-jin had not yet reached Transcendent. It was the natural course.
To reiterate, Transcendent is not some random dog’s name. Even in the martial world, the martial prowess of a small-to-medium sect leader is Transcendent.
Bi So-hyang and Sama Yul had reached Transcendent by consuming Gongcheongseokyu. Ma Ra-jin had obtained no opportunity, so it was normal that he had not reached Transcendent. Still, since his external arts were said to be around Transcendent level, there would be no problem traveling together.
Moreover, he needed a physical-type companion—in case they had to face techniques he could not handle.
“Our unit is already short on manpower, and you’re taking talent?”
“…I can only say I’m sorry to the Unit Leader.”
“In exchange, you must rack up plenty of merits. Got it?”
“Yes.”
With that, he received permission to pull talent from Yeom Gyeong-hong and Sama Rin. Next, only one person remained.
“Hey. No way, right?”
“What do you mean no way.”
“It’s not happening. Say it’s not.”
“I’ll make good use of So-hyang.”
“Hey!!”
Shin Gi-woon immediately clapped his hands over his ears. With the other two it might have been different, but he was close enough with Shindogun to banter casually, so he delivered it as a notification rather than a request—that he was taking Bi So-hyang.
Shindogun insisted that Bi So-hyang at least was off-limits. How could the two top prospects in the unit leave? He thrashed about wildly, but was subdued by Yeom Gyeong-hong.
“We’re also giving up precious talent, so accept that much.”
“Brother! I’m losing two people, you know? You and Rin are only losing one each.”
“If you’re talking about manpower shortages, want to look at our unit’s situation? If you came under our unit, things might improve.”
For reference, Shindogun had no allies here. And so Shindogun ended up having the two people who ranked among his unit’s top experts taken by the Myeolcheon Squad.
Cheon-san is a mountain composed of eight peaks in total. Beginning with Cheon Peak, where Guangming Palace is located.
Then the seven peaks where each of the Seven Great Sects are situated: the Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth Peaks.
The seven peaks rose in a circle as if guarding the central Cheon Peak. Among them, the Earth Peak boasted the most rugged terrain.
Perhaps for that reason, aside from those related to the Gwang-hyeol Sect that occupied the Earth Peak, ordinary people did not live there.
The coldest peak. Thus the Earth Peak was also called the Empty Peak, meaning that nothing existed there.
At the summit of the Empty Peak, the wide land had been built solely as a palace for the Gwang-hyeol Sect.
“Sect Master, you’ve returned.”
“Yes.”
There, an old man with his hands clasped behind his back knocked on the gate of the Gwang-hyeol Sect’s palace, the Gwang-hyeol Palace.
Dozens of people appeared from within and formed lines on either side of him.
The Gwang-hyeol Sect Master, Gu-yang Cheol, entered deep into the Gwang-hyeol Palace without a word.
Then a massive cavern appeared.
This place, where a narrow space had been forcibly expanded into a vast one through the activation of a formation, was where the martial artists of the Gwang-hyeol Sect were repeatedly training amid a bloody free-for-all.
An environment so harsh that the smell of blood never faded. They could have created a better environment, but the Gwang-hyeol Sect, true to its name, insisted on such surroundings. The reason the Gwang-hyeol Sect could remain among the Seven Great Sects among countless others was because every single member of the sect was completely insane—monsters who charged at enemies in a frenzied state at the mere sight of blood.
Whether in the martial world or the Divine Cult, the Gwang-hyeol Sect was renowned as a group of madmen.
In contrast, the sect master of such a group was utterly composed. To lead madmen, shouldn’t the most insane one become the leader?
If one thought that, one would be wrong.
To properly control those madmen—so that if the madmen disobeyed their master’s orders he would execute them without hesitation—the successive masters of the Gwang-hyeol Sect had always been insane, yet they were those who “did not know they were insane.”
In short, Gu-yang Cheol was a man whose exterior and interior differed. The other sect masters rarely touched him.
The people of the sect likewise. If they did anything that displeased him, their heads might explode.
And Gu-yang Cheol, passing through the cavern where blood ran rampant, reached the end of the cavern and bowed his head toward a woman sitting in lotus position.
“It’s been a while, Miss Se-hwa. I’ve brought some news from outside—would you care to hear it?”
“...”
The woman’s identity was Cheon Se-hwa. Her entire body was bound by chains that seemed to be formed from blood water itself.
Something transparent yet opaque. The Gwang-hyeol Sect’s formation was blocking her movements completely.
Srrr.
Cheon Se-hwa opened her eyes. Her eyes were stained red all the way to the whites. Gu-yang Cheol clicked his tongue and opened his mouth.
“They say the Myeolcheon Squad is being formed. The unit leader is… Shin Gi-woon.”
“..!”
“You have a reaction. A name you’ve missed, is it?”
“Shin… Gi-woon…”
Cheon Se-hwa’s body twitched. At the same time, the smile vanished from Gu-yang Cheol’s mouth.
“I’m speaking seriously, Miss Se-hwa. If things continue like this, you will die.”
Gu-yang Cheol recalled a year ago. As usual, while surveying the other peaks from the summit of the Earth Peak, the Cult Leader had secretly visited him. Gu-yang Cheol was startled but hid his inner thoughts and welcomed the Cult Leader.
On his back was Cheon Se-hwa, who had suffered serious critical injuries.
Roughly grasping the situation, Gu-yang Cheol immediately activated the formation and sealed Cheon Se-hwa in the blood-reeking space where the Gwang-hyeol Sect’s demonic practitioners trained.
“Gwang-hyeol Sect Master. Do you understand why this seat has come to find you?”
“It’s the methods of the Blood Cult, I see. Just what happened?”
The methods of the Blood Cult. Surprisingly, Cheon Se-hwa was in a state of damage to her heart. This was a method primarily used by the Blood Cult.
Gu-yang Cheol thought. First, the Blood Cult would be annihilated by tomorrow so there was no need to pay attention—and a treatment method was needed.
“In this place, the illness will not worsen. I hope you will prevent this seat’s daughter from making any extreme choices.”
“How could there be any issue. Do not worry. I too do not wish to see the Cult Leader’s daughter die.”
The Cult Leader turned without another word and left. And exactly seven days and nights later, information that the Blood Cult had vanished without a trace from the world reached his ears.
An enraged expert of the Tal-ma realm cannot be stopped by anyone in this world.
To put it precisely—
The rage of Cheon Yu, who is evaluated as closest to the greatest under heaven in the current generation, even if three other Hyeon Realm experts joined forces, could never be stopped.