Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: A Common Enemy
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The Alliance members received training on each Ghost Spirit before being assigned their missions. The instructor was the Soul-Stealing Immortal, Jang Ryang.
“Listen carefully.”
“Yes, sir!”
The members' response was thunderous.
For the *Hyenang*, second-rate or lower martial artists were to act as bait until it revealed its true form. The moment it did, they were to sever its limbs and strike it down as quickly as possible.
For the Five-Headed Ghost, they were to search the inns where martial artists had recently died and book rooms there. They would drug a few members with sleeping pills to put them to sleep. If the Five-Headed Ghost appeared to kill the sleeping members, they were to respond immediately, ensuring all five heads were severed.
Furthermore, they were not to kill it completely but leave the final step to the Totua Tribe's sorcerers.
Such was the training.
The reactions of the members who received their missions were all the same.
At first, it was bewilderment and scornful laughter.
However, their thoughts changed after they went out to perform the missions themselves.
The more missions they carried out, the more they realized their own foolishness and understood that the current martial world was facing an unprecedented crisis.
Feeling a sense of crisis, the members became highly disciplined and began to actively follow the orders from their superiors.
And the same was true for the martial artists from the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families who had come to support the Martial Alliance.
* * *
Since all eight House Ghosts in their respective locations had to be eliminated to break Gwiwon Seonsa's barrier, someone had to face them.
However, Baek Mu-heun, the Soul-Stealing Immortal, Jin Hong, and Du Baek were excluded from this force.
That left... the pillars of the Orthodox Sects.
The Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.
The Soul-Stealing Immortal informed the leaders of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families that the locations of the House Ghosts were likely guarded by powerful Ghost Spirits, and they should be cautious.
He also requested that martial artists of Elder rank or higher take the front lines.
Among the families and sects that accepted, the Zhongnan Sect was on its way to hunt the House Ghost in the northeast. After walking for some time, the accompanying sorcerers from the Totua Tribe cast a formation and chanted an incantation, causing a sinister, abandoned house to appear on a forest path where there had been nothing before.
They had found it easily because the Soul-Stealing Immortal had told them the expected location.
Just then.
“Even if the Sect Leader accepted this matter, I do not know if it is right for us to listen to a brat from the Demonic Cult.”
Un-yeop, an Elder of the Zhongnan Sect, grumbled, displeased with complying with Baek Mu-heun's request. However, the Sect Leader, Mong-yu, knew why Un-yeop, who was also his martial brother, was saying such things.
Jockeying for position.
He was setting the stage to take credit and receive a reward after the work with the Martial Alliance was done. That was why he spoke loudly enough for the Totua Tribe members to hear.
He had always been a greedy man, one who secretly lined his own pockets within the Zhongnan Sect. He was left alone only because his martial prowess was outstanding and he knew how to stay within certain bounds. Otherwise, he would have been expelled long ago.
However,
Mong-yu said nothing.
‘Un-yeop, too, will naturally understand once he sees it for himself. Just how grave this situation is...’
Just then.
“Keheheak! You human bastards! What place do you think you're treading on!”
A burly man with a giant, double-bladed axe on his back emerged from the abandoned house. The problem was that his power was extraordinary. Furthermore, about thirty people walked out from behind the man, all wearing martial arts uniforms.
Judging by their creaking gait and distorted faces, they didn't seem to be living humans. They were undoubtedly martial artists who had been abducted by the *Hyenang* and had their insides devoured by the Painted Skin Ghosts.
The problem was the unusual aura emanating from them. In terms of martial arts realms, they were all approaching the pinnacle of mastery.
The giant wielding the axe was especially superior among them. He was so strong that it would be impossible to face him without reaching the realm of Transformation.
“This is...”
* * *
*KWAAAAANG!*
A tremendous explosion.
The ground, cratered as if a meteor had struck; the earth, roughly cracked; the remnants of a massive boulder shattered into pieces. Rocks jutting out from the split ground like bamboo shoots. A forest blasted apart as if struck by lightning. Bloodstains splattered on the ground...
...and scattered martial artists and corpses.
Everything proved that a massive, chaotic battle had taken place here.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities among the Zhongnan Sect martial artists. The corpses strewn on the ground were all those who had already been killed by the Painted Skin Ghosts.
Un-yeop checked on the disciples.
“Is everyone alright!?”
The disciples clutched their wounds and replied.
“Yes... However, everyone in the Zhongnan Sect has sustained injuries, major and minor.”
Not only Sect Leader Mong-yu, but also Elder Un-yeop, who had been trying to secure his own interests, had suffered internal injuries.
Not just Un-yeop; most of the Elders let out groans of pain.
‘It was this serious?!’
The Martial Alliance had clearly stated that the true enemy in this incident was Gwiwon Seonsa. But to reach him, they first had to stop the eight House Ghosts.
In other words, the true enemy hadn't even appeared yet. And even that true enemy was said to be merely a subordinate of the foe the Central Plains would face.
So, when they came on the mission to eliminate the House Ghosts, they had come with a light heart, thinking it would be an easy task.
And yet...
‘This is an absurd level of difficulty, isn't it?’
The mission undertaken by the great Zhongnan Sect was, in a way, to deal with the minions of a great enemy's minion.
A trivial mission for a sect that held a seat among the Nine Great Sects. And yet, even the Elders and the Sect Leader had stepped forward.
And still!
The entire Zhongnan Sect suffered internal injuries.
Un-yeop's expression crumpled, and he lowered his head.
He realized just how serious the current events were. This wasn't something that could be solved simply by everyone pooling their strength.
‘This is no time to be looking out for my own interests!’
It was a problem that had to be solved even if it meant sacrificing their own lives. A problem that had to be solved with the very survival of the entire Central Plains martial world—no, all of humanity—at stake.
‘If we don't cooperate with our full strength now, not only Zhongnan, but the entire Central Plains might cease to exist.’
Sect Leader Mong-yu watched Un-yeop and smiled bitterly. He had realized the gravity of the situation ever since the day Baek Mu-heun killed the head of the Jinju Eon Family.
That was why he knew Un-yeop would come to his senses. He knew that the Zhongnan Sect's involvement in this matter was by no means an overreaction.
However, he couldn't help but feel a bitter pang at the fact that they were working as mere side characters in history, knowing nothing.
Mong-yu trudged into the sinister, abandoned house. The Painted Skin Ghosts that had been protecting the House Ghost had all been dealt with.
“Ugh... uhhh...”
The House Ghost was cowering inside the abandoned house, trembling. Mong-yu swiftly cut off its head.
A cleanly severed head.
Soon, a black, substance-like thing emerged from the severed head and flew off somewhere.
“Totua Tribe!”
The Totua Tribe members waiting outside chased the black substance and soon confirmed that it had entered a grave behind the abandoned house.
The Totua Tribe surrounded the grave, formed a formation, and began chanting a spell.
*Saaaaa*
A black energy rose from the grave, made a strange sound, and then vanished.
Mong-yu took in the scene and let out a sigh.
“How in the world did he know about this and prepare for it? Baek Mu-heun... what is your true identity?”
The situation was the same elsewhere.
The leaders of the Five Great Families and Nine Great Sects who went to eliminate the House Ghosts were all thinking the same thing.
[ As a result of my research with the Soul-Stealing Immortal on the captured Painted Skin Ghosts, we discovered a binding that forces their souls into endless reincarnation. However, we have perfected a spell to break that binding. ]
It was common sense that even the most extraordinary genius would be limited to one field. But Baek Mu-heun was not. It was already a mystery how he had achieved such martial prowess at such a young age...
And now, he had deciphered ghost arts that even the most renowned sorcerers of the martial world couldn't interpret? Moreover, he created a spell to break the curse in such a short time?
A once-in-a-generation genius.
Even such modifiers felt insufficient to describe him.
* * *
Meanwhile, early in the morning, the Jinju Eon Family in Hebei was surrounded by the Hebei Peng Clan and the Beggars' Sect. The Peng Clan and the Beggars' Sect had established a thorough encirclement, placing sorcerers in between their ranks.
Peng Mu-seon, the head of the Peng Clan, felt his heart grow heavy at the thought that he would have to erase the Jinju Eon Family from this world with his own hands. How had the Jinju Eon Family, who once stood shoulder to shoulder with the Peng Clan, fallen to become puppets of Ghost Spirits?
According to the Soul-Stealing Immortal, he had heard that a twisted heart would attract Ghost Spirits. Perhaps the responsibility for that lay with the Peng Clan.
However.
He keenly felt that it was already irreversible. Hadn't he seen with his own two eyes how the head and elders of the Jinju Eon Family had changed that day? If he didn't make a decision now, it would hinder the war currently taking place in Hubei Province.
‘I must cut them off.’
Having organized his thoughts, Peng Mu-seon calmly assessed the current situation.
Although the core forces of the Jinju Eon Family had all departed, he could not let his guard down. He didn't know what tricks these beings called Painted Skin Ghosts might use.
Furthermore, since there were no Totua Tribe forces to come this far, the Peng Clan and the Beggars' Sect had gathered their own sorcerers. Normally, the Peng Clan, which walked the path of supremacy, would never have relied on sorcery. But this time was different.
He had realized the extent of the power held by what was called ghost arts. Peng Mu-seon had asked the Soul-Stealing Immortal to write down an interpretation of the ghost arts.
And just the day before yesterday, he had given the sorcerers the interpretation of ghost arts sent by the Totua Tribe.
As they were not yet as knowledgeable about ghost arts as the Totua Tribe, they had to study right up until their arrival here. After this war was over, he would ask the Soul-Stealing Immortal to actively train more sorcerers.
No, he would do so even if it meant establishing a branch of the Totua Tribe in Hebei.
Peng Mu-seon raised his right hand toward the martial artists behind him who had finished their preparations for battle.
* * *
Mu-heun was having Cheon-hyang monitor the entire war situation in Hubei.
‘Everyone seems to have suffered some injuries, but they are eliminating the House Ghosts one by one.’
The power of the Orthodox Sects was truly immense. To fight against such a large number of Ghost Spirits and still suppress the enemy without major casualties...
It showed why they had gathered under the name of the Orthodox Sects.
Mu-heun gathered the shrine maidens, Taoist priests, and monks and conducted their training. Then, he led them toward Gwiwon Seonsa.
“From now on, please take the talismans I am handing out and stand while maintaining your distance.”
The sorcerers completely surrounded the mountain where Gwiwon Seonsa was located. Shrine maidens gathered with shrine maidens, monks with monks, and Taoist priests with Taoist priests.
“You must understand the ghost arts and recite the corresponding incantations. Please lend me your strength.”
Perhaps because the Martial Alliance Leader had approved it, they were more cooperative than expected. All preparations went smoothly.
Placing Totua Tribe members at each point also made it easy to give commands.
“This is all thanks to the Alliance Leader and the Soul-Stealing Immortal.”
“Haha, you're too kind. It's all thanks to you, Sir Mu-heun.”
“That's right, it's all thanks to you. I merely relayed your words to them.”
Mu-heun felt a new sense of emotion.
It was because an aura of trust in Mu-heun flowed from Du Baek and Jang Ryang.
‘Now, things like Orthodox Sects and Demonic Cults have lost their meaning.’