Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: The Report
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“What!? Is that really true? You’re saying she could be a spy for the Orthodox Sects?”
“Shh! Shut your mouth!”
Un-pyo shouted in astonishment at Mu-heun’s explanation, and Mu-heun promptly covered his mouth and gave him a knock on the head.
Un-pyo listened to the rest of Mu-heun’s explanation with a new lump on his head.
“From now on, I will be going to the Martial Alliance with Dang So-so to uncover the truth. However, the number of people who can go is limited, so you two will remain here and receive Gam Pa-pa’s instruction.”
“What? You want us to be instructed by the branch manager of the Martial Alliance?”
“Yes, you will. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No, sir. We will do our best to follow your orders.”
“Good. I heard you grew during your battle with the Poison Iron Sword. But you still have a long way to go. You both need to reach at least the state of divinity.”
“Divinity…”
“What. Don’t have the confidence?”
“No, sir! Sir!”
And so, Mu-heun entrusted Un-pyo and Pa-sun to Gam Pa-pa, the Sichuan branch manager of the Martial Alliance. He requested that she train them harshly, and Gam Pa-pa reassured him not to worry.
As a final act, Mu-heun found a carrier pigeon, tied a letter to its leg, and sent it off. The recipient of the letter was none other than the Sun and Moon Divine Maiden of the Sacred Fire Palace.
* * *
Jinmu, Commander of the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit, returned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. To prepare his report for the Cult Leader’s Hall, he summoned the Radiant Left Emissary, Seo-deung, and the Right Emissary, Ma Ji-seung, to begin their discussion.
“I must soon go to the Cult Leader’s Hall to give my report. The Cult Leader will surely ask for our thoughts on Lord Dragon Demon before asking about the details of the incident.”
“He has always been that way… so I expect it will be the same this time.”
“Indeed. That is why I intend to consolidate your opinions and deliver them. What do you think?”
“That is a good idea.”
“First, I will tell you what I have seen and heard, then you can share your thoughts.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jinmu told Seo-deung and Ma Ji-seung everything he had investigated.
The moment Jinmu finished speaking, Seo-deung was the first to speak up.
“In my opinion, Lord Dragon Demon is like a wise sage.”
“A wise sage, you say?”
“Yes. The first piece of evidence for this is his ability to grasp the core of any situation.”
“…”
“This dispute with the Sichuan Tang Clan, on the surface, appeared to be the Tang Clan interfering with our cult’s trade in the Central Plains under the pretext of justice. However, the reality, as is always the case with humans, was a result of calculations based on profit and loss. Lord Dragon Demon saw through this immediately.”
“That is something you, the other disciples, or even the elders could easily figure out. Considering his age, it is certainly a fine insight, but you are not saying this simply because of his youth, are you?”
“That is correct. While such insight is remarkable given Lord Dragon Demon’s young age, that alone would never have been enough to resolve this incident.”
The core of the incident.
It wasn’t just about seeing the superficial pretext and the underlying human calculations of profit and loss.
“When the Cult Leader ordered that this matter be delegated to one of his disciples, we began to deliberate. We wondered which disciple could resolve the matter while minimizing the damage to our cult.”
At that point, Ma Ji-seung also picked up where Seo-deung left off.
“We believed that if we entrusted this to any of the other five disciples, they could certainly resolve it, but we were concerned about the risk of it escalating into a major conflict. If things went truly wrong… it could have triggered another war between the Orthodox and Demonic sects.”
“Exactly. That is why, after much deliberation, we decided to ask Lord Dragon Demon.”
“Right. The result of our deliberation was the sixth disciple.”
“Yes. The reason is that from the moment we heard of his deeds in Blade Leaf Valley, we thought he was the right person for the job. He was dispatched under the Cult Leader’s orders to investigate the problem in Blade Leaf Valley, but he didn’t just investigate; he resolved all the problems as soon as he arrived.”
Jinmu remained silent, listening to Seo-deung and Ma Ji-seung as if retracing the reports he had received that day.
“He did not limit himself to his original mission of reconnaissance. Instead, he gathered all possible means to solve the core problem there: the Golden Fang Poison Claw.”
“That’s it exactly. The first thing he did was assess the situation in Blade Leaf Valley. Rather than confronting the Golden Fang Poison Claw immediately, he prepared meticulously. It was that meticulousness that we saw.”
“He prepared an antidote to cure the Blade Leaf Demon and his subordinates, a solution for the Gu poison in the Blade Leaf Demon’s granddaughter’s body, and a strategy to divert the enemy’s attention, which he then executed boldly.”
“As a result, after diverting their attention, he used the Blade Leaf Demon and his followers as his fighting force and annihilated the Golden Fang Poison Claw and the Red Demon Pavilion Lord’s warriors all at once.”
“He dealt with them in one fell swoop because he knew what the Red Demon Pavilion Lord might do if they escaped. Ha! Is that not truly wise?”
“He is on a different level from those brats who, as they hone their martial arts and grow stronger, become lost in their own power and fail to grasp the situation, thereby ruining things.”
“And at the Divine Dragon Assembly, he proved his own martial prowess as well.”
“By the time he defeated the Red Demon Pavilion Lord, he seemed to have already reached the Demonic Apex.”
Just then, Jinmu spoke up.
“Alright, that’s the story of how he came to be assigned the mission regarding the dispute with the Sichuan Tang Clan. Now, tell me your thoughts on what you saw this time.”
Seo-deung and Ma Ji-seung spoke in unison.
““Our opinion is not so different from before.””
Jinmu spoke, a hint of interest in his voice.
“Not different from before?”
“That is correct. He identified Dang Baek-ho as the core of the dispute with the Sichuan Tang Clan, just as he identified the Golden Fang Poison Claw as the core of the problem in Blade Leaf Valley.”
“Isn’t it incredible? The Golden Fang Poison Claw and Dang Baek-ho are worlds apart in terms of power and prestige. Yet, he boldly targeted Dang Baek-ho and planned his move. I cannot help but be amazed.”
“If he had tried to resolve this with force, or by appeasing Dang Baek-ho, the problem would have resurfaced in the near future, just like how those bastards conspired with the Red Demon Pavilion Lord to cause trouble in Blade Leaf Valley.”
“Furthermore, if Lord Dragon Demon had targeted only Dang Baek-ho with all his strength from the start, he would have been killed before he even got close.”
“I don’t know how he did it, but he persuaded all the clans that were cooperating with the Tang Clan, including Kunlun, to turn their backs on them. This forced the Tang Clan’s powerful warriors to be dispatched in large numbers to fill the void left by their former allies.”
“The Tang Clan’s core forces blocked the path from our cult to the Central Plains, stationing themselves in Qinghai, Gansu, and Tibet, and clashed with our cult’s warriors. However, since neither side truly intended to wage an all-out war, no significant damage occurred.”
“And it was then that he, along with those from the younger generation, struck the now-empty Tang Clan headquarters.”
“That’s right. I heard he also had the cooperation of other masters, such as Un-ryong of Kunlun, who held a grudge against the Tang Clan.”
“In any case, isn’t it truly wise that he was able to make use of such masters?”
“I agree. He is the youngest to have defeated all the rising stars at the Divine Dragon Assembly to claim a resounding victory, and he is the one who killed the Red Demon Pavilion Lord, Hwang Cheol-ung. On top of that, he has now defeated Dang Baek-ho, the head of the Tang Clan, one of the Five Great Families… He is already a peerless genius in the martial arts.”
“One could call him a Heavenly Martial Body.”
“Yes. For someone like that to also be skilled in meticulous preparation, tactics, and strategy, and to possess the wisdom to use people…”
“Perhaps…”
Jinmu, who had been listening to their conversation, spoke again.
“He is suitable to be the next Cult Leader?”
“…”
Jinmu had posed the most serious question, and this time, even Seo-deung, who had been an ardent supporter of Mu-heun, could not answer easily.
“Don’t make it so difficult. We do not have the right to support any one of the disciples. Therefore, we can only think it. The report will only contain the matters we discussed before this.”
“That is correct.”
“That is correct.”
After summarizing the details, Jinmu said, “I have heard your thoughts well. I share a similar opinion, so I will report it as such.”
With those final words, Jinmu rose from his seat and left.
It was a truly strange feeling.
Generally, the Commander of the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit works for the Cult Leader, but in truth, that is the same as working for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. It was not uncommon for them to handle trivial matters, mediate disputes, and work behind the scenes for the convenience of the cult’s followers.
However, until now, the Cult Leader’s disciples, the elders, and the pavilion lords had always acted to increase their own authority, manage their territories, and build their power, rarely moving in a direction that benefited the cult as a whole.
Especially when there were disputes with forces like the Orthodox Sects, the Unorthodox Blood Alliance, or the Five Outer Palaces, they tended to resolve things with force.
While that choice may not have been wrong for them, as they were the strong, it was ultimately the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit that had to handle the delicate adjustments after a powerful clash.
But this time…
The matter handled by the Cult Leader’s sixth disciple, Lord Dragon Demon…
It had been handled so perfectly, so wisely, that there was not the slightest room for the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit to intervene.
Was it even possible for someone who had not yet passed his twentieth year to handle matters to such a degree?
However, an unbelievable event had unfolded before his very eyes, and Jinmu himself had visited Chengdu in Sichuan to confirm it.
“Haha, Lord Dragon Demon. Just how far do you intend to surprise me?”
Jinmu let out a hearty laugh as he entered the Cult Leader’s Hall.
* * *
“I greet the Cult Leader.”
“…Yes. What did you think of him?”
Just as Jinmu and the emissaries had predicted, the Cult Leader, Cheon Mu-jin, showed no interest in the issue with the Sichuan Tang Clan and immediately asked for Jinmu’s thoughts on Mu-heun.
Jinmu, well aware of the Cult Leader’s ways, was not flustered and immediately conveyed the consolidated opinion of himself and the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit.
“In your subordinate’s eyes, he is a wise sage. And this is the shared opinion of the Left and Right Emissaries, and everyone in the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit.”
“A wise sage…”
“Yes. There are four reasons for this belief.”
“Speak.”
Only after receiving the Cult Leader’s permission did Jinmu begin to state the reasons why he and the Radiant Heavenly Demon Unit thought so.
And in truth, the four reasons he was about to state were the contents of his report after confirming the mission in the Central Plains.
When the entire report was finished,
The Cult Leader, Cheon Mu-jin, spoke.
“Make the sixth’s accomplishments widely known. And when he returns in about two months, provide support so that a grand feast may be held at the Dragon Demon Pavilion.”
“Sir!”
The merits Mu-heun had established were posted on walls throughout the cult, and the news was delivered to the Heavenly Dance Family, the Meng’o Pavilion, Blade Leaf Valley, and the other family heads, pavilion lords, and palace lords.
The gossips of the cult began to chatter about Mu-heun’s achievements, and these rumors, sometimes exaggerated, sometimes downplayed, eventually reached the Songlim Inn in Gocha Village, a place within the cult's domain.
In Gocha Village lived Ibaek, who was helping the village chief, I Hwa-sol, and teaching martial arts to the village youths.
He could not help but be amazed by Mu-heun’s exploits, and the residents of Gocha Village also praised Mu-heun’s name aloud.