The Exhausting Business of War
War is a truly exhausting business. It doesn't matter if you're the one swinging the club or the one getting hit. If both sides are evenly matched, it's even worse.
I squinted at the formation puppets as they began dismantling the arrays.
"We have things like that?"
"Of course we do. Puppets are immune to illusion arrays and mental disruption, making them perfect for the task," Ryeo-ah replied.
"How are your people doing, Sister? Did many survive?"
"This was merely a skirmish, so all the key figures are perfectly fine."
The humans were holding out surprisingly well. They were apparently a coalition of several neighboring cultivation sects. Because of this, our side—which had originally only planned to wipe out a single sect—had to bring in reinforcements of our own.
Normally, the Kang Family alone would have easily handled them, but since the humans had formed an alliance, the Baekyo Valley and the Pasumun had dispatched their own forces as well. The modest battlefield Kang Baek-jin had arranged for me to prove my worth as a successor candidate had suddenly ballooned into a massive war.
Well, it wasn't exactly a surprise. They say nothing in war is as futile as the initial plan. Most of the time, plans fall apart, and instead of succeeding, you end up patching things up with makeshift solutions. Not that I had any reason to take this fight too seriously anyway.
"The enemy is retreating!"
"Press the attack!"
The enemy's stronghold. Near the fortress that served as their headquarters, countless treasure pagodas were erected. If we wanted to strike their main camp, we had to demolish every single one of them. Each pagoda was massive enough to easily house dozens of cultivators, functioning as watchtowers while simultaneously projecting a colossal array. If we ignored them and rushed straight for the main camp, the 108 pagodas clustered tightly around the castle would act as array eyes, literally grinding our forces to dust.
I swung my Dokkaebi club, drawing a massive horizontal arc toward the fleeing remnants of the enemy.
*Boom!* A massive wave of energy erupted horizontally, obliterating them. There was a Qi Circulation cultivator mixed in among them, but he was only at the Early stage and already wounded. I swept them all away in a single blow. Normally, I would have used a low-consumption spell to avoid wasting energy, but circumstances had changed.
"Ah, wonderful! Simply magnificent! For the first time in ages, I actually feel alive. I graciously accept your offering... Wait! That one over there is escaping! Catch him quickly! He is at the Middle stage of Qi Circulation!"
"I get it, okay?"
"Hmm? What did you say, Brother?"
"I'll just go catch that guy and be right back."
Sister looked at me, her eyes filled with concern.
"Mmm. Are you not pushing yourself too hard? If you venture too deep, you might fall into an ambush or a barrier. Humans are the most insidious and despicable creatures of all."
Was it because we had shared our bodies? Her concern felt far heavier and more intense than usual. Before, her worry had been reasonably measured, but now, she looked exactly like a wife sending her husband off to work.
"A-A wife? The things you say to your sister!"
"We've already shared our bodies, so what does it matter?"
She really acts like a blushing bride sometimes.
"Flirt later! That fellow is getting away! Every single one of them is a source of power, I tell you!"
And here was my nagging, tactless boss chiming in as always.
"What? This is all for your own good—"
"Yeah, yeah. I got it, Boss."
I immediately dashed forward. My cultivation was already beyond Universal Circulation but below Samgeuk, so I was entirely confident in my ability to hunt down and crush a mere Middle-stage Qi Circulation cultivator in no time.
"There he is."
Up until now, I hadn't engaged in any large-scale slaughter. There simply hadn't been much benefit to killing. Sure, I could plunder my victims' belongings, but I only did that when necessary. Massacres were just exhausting, and I figured they wouldn't do much for my reputation, so I had avoided them.
But lately, things were different.
"Kuh! Yin-Yang Hexagram Array!"
"You guys really love your Yin and Yang, don't you?"
Because I had acquired the Sacrifice fragment of the Mantra, any kill I made—specifically, those made with my Dokkaebi club—was immediately treated as a ritual sacrifice. This meant that beyond simply ending a life, I could recycle the very value of their death.
Since I lacked the ability to utilize the sacrificial energy myself anyway, every single kill I made was treated as an offering and fed entirely to Ryeo-ah. Helping her regain her strength was highly beneficial and useful to me as well.
And a battlefield was the only place where slaughter—something normally unthinkable—was not only accepted but actively praised and rewarded.
A sacrificial ritual that required massive bloodshed to be efficient, and a battlefield where killing was considered a virtue. I couldn't describe it as anything other than a perfect alignment of timing and circumstances. Talk about a stroke of luck.
That was why I had been pushing myself so hard lately. I mean, the more I killed, the more Ryeo-ah leveled up. How could I possibly resist a free double-XP exploit? If not now, when would I ever get another chance to farm such high-quality, potent experience points?
"Aaaagh!"
"Nice try. I'll put you out of your misery soon."
He put up a decent fight, but in the end, I slammed my club directly into the solar plexus of the human cultivator as he desperately unleashed the last of his strength. A defensive barrier inscribed with strange characters and elemental attributes manifested, but it lacked the absolute power to stop me.
*Crack!* The Middle-stage Qi Circulation cultivator collapsed, and I searched his robes to retrieve his spoils. *Whoosh—* I felt a strange spiritual energy begin to seep into my club.
"So this is what a sacrifice feels like?"
I had seen it so often lately that I was growing used to it. It wasn't blood, but a crimson current of energy was being absorbed into the club. If I memorized this sensation, it would surely come in handy someday.
"Hmm. A decent amount has accumulated. I shall take this as well."
"Sure, knock yourself out."
The energy gathered in the club then flowed into my body—specifically, to Ryeo-ah, who was coiled inside me. I could understand her swallowing the energy, but anything beyond that was a mystery to me.
"Performing a proper sacrifice certainly makes the energy much easier to assimilate."
"Is it different from just regular killing?"
"If simply killing and absorbing the energy is like eating raw meat that is bound to make you sick, then a sacrifice is a culinary recipe. Think of it as cooking the meat, seasoning it, and serving it beautifully on a plate."
In any case, this was how I waged war. I acted as the vanguard commander, charging straight into the front lines to stir up chaos and slaughter the enemy. While I threw their ranks into disarray, the others would seize the opening to drive their blades deep. Momentum played a massive role in war, which was why the performance of the vanguard was so critical. To put it simply, if the guy fighting right next to you gets instantly obliterated the moment the battle starts, you're not exactly going to feel motivated to keep fighting. Thanks to this, I had become quite famous in this war.
"My Lord."
"You're back?"
"We have captured a total of roughly one hundred prisoners."
"Excellent work. Everyone did well, so distribute these dharma treasures among them."
"Thank you, My Lord!"
I was, after all, the fourth successor candidate, and I commanded the Yacha Unit, who had just received dharma treasures from me. To the enemy, my wild rampage at the absolute forefront of the battle—snapping their banners and tearing through their lines—must have looked like a nightmare incarnate, but to my allies, there was no sight more reassuring.
I had acquired quite a few epithets. The Blood-Wheel Demon, the Lightning War Demon, the Black-Chain Vanguard. Honestly, I found them all incredibly childish. I used to have a bit of a romantic fantasy about cool titles, but actually being called those things made me cringe. Especially since they were so ridiculously exaggerated. If someone's nickname is 'Grizzly Bear,' they sound big and tough, but if they're called the 'Dark Flame Master,' they just look like an idiot. Well, I suppose it was just proof of how famous I had become.
"How is it?"
"The sacrifices you have offered me have been helpful. However, they are still vastly insufficient."
"Glutton."
"Keep flapping that tongue of yours and see what happens."
"Sorry."
I quickly tucked my tail, sensing a very real flash of murderous intent. But seriously, she ate a ridiculous amount. I had killed so many, yet she showed no signs of being full. Just how many more did I have to slaughter?
"Fufu. Did you truly believe restoring me would be so simple? By merely killing those at the Core Condensation and Qi Circulation realms? To achieve that, you would have to slaughter every single Core Condensation and Qi Circulation cultivator across the entire continent."
"Aren't you just so special."
"Indeed. This lady is far superior to you."
Ever since she started regaining her strength, Ryeo-ah had become quite talkative. It was as if she had regained her vitality; she truly seemed to be enjoying life again now that her power was returning. And the more she babbled, the more information I managed to extract from her.
"So, how did a grand True Spirit like yourself end up drifting all the way to a backwater place like this?"
"Well... about that..."
The most significant revelation was regarding Ryeo-ah's cultivation realm and her circumstances. As I had suspected, her realm was that of a True Spirit—the stage immediately below Deity Transformation. Considering that cultivators usually choose to ascend the moment they reach the Deity Transformation stage, she was practically equivalent to the strongest existence in the mortal world.
"In any case, such knowledge would only harm you at your current level. We shall speak of this once you have matured a bit more."
"You're not going to tell me who reduced you to this state either?"
"Focus on your cultivation. What could a fellow who has yet to even reach Samgeuk, let alone Harmony, possibly do with such information?"
Perhaps because she had revealed her true realm, her attitude had become incredibly arrogant. It was like a closeted powerhouse showing a fraction of their strength and immediately turning smug and haughty. Well, she wasn't entirely wrong, so I had no choice but to take it.
"My Lord?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Let's head back."
The leader of the Yacha Unit had approached to report to me. What was his name again...?
"Kang Cheon-tu. At least memorize the names of your own subordinates."
Ah, right. In any case, Kang Cheon-tu was highly useful.
"We have quite a few prisoners today as well."
"I figured it would be information to your liking, My Lord."
The only downside was that he was a gruff, hulking man. If he had been a beautiful, cute woman, I might have considered taking her into my embrace, but he definitely didn't make the cut. He was useful, but he didn't actually possess any deep loyalty to me. After all, it had barely been a month since we met. Even then, he and his unit had been dumped on me by Kang Baek-jin. There simply hadn't been enough time to build any genuine bond between lord and vassal.
So, I bought that trust with money.
"Commander. I know it must have been a hassle for you and the Yacha Unit to capture them alive instead of just killing them."
"Not at all, My Lord. Devoting ourselves to you is our duty."
"Then rewarding subordinates who execute their lord's orders flawlessly is my duty as well. Share the dharma treasures I gave you earlier with the men, and take this. It's a personal gift from me to you."
I distributed the cultivation techniques and dharma treasures of the enemies I killed to my subordinates. They were useless to me anyway. I had already filtered out anything that seemed necessary or useful for Jeongha or So-wol. But because I killed so many, the leftovers were still an immense hoard. The minor scraps left after distributing them to my men were traded with other factions for prisoners they had captured. To outsiders, it must have looked like the height of inefficiency. But to me, this was far more useful.
"Sister."
"I have captured more prisoners for you this time. I had them placed with the ones your Yacha Unit detained, so go ahead and take them."
"Thank you, as always."
Now that Sister was my woman, my forces had doubled. And so had the number of prisoners.
*Crunch!* I harvested their heads as dryly as if I were digging up potatoes, and the runes inscribed on my club quickly grew darker. And there was still one more place to go.
"Mmm. Are you going to see that bitch again?"
"They have the most prisoners, after all."
Leaving Sister's grumbling behind, I strolled through the camp.
"Captured human female cultivator right here! Early-stage Core Condensation!"
"Selling dharma treasures! We also have single-use talismans to save your life!"
I guess market economics thrive even on a battlefield. With so many people gathered, a bustling marketplace had naturally formed. I casually scanned the goods on display before shaking my head.
"It's all trash."
It was truly, utterly useless. The quality was too low to even consider gifting to Jeongha, So-wol, or the Heavenly Demon. I suppose it was only natural, since anyone would pocket the truly valuable spoils for themselves. It was then that—
"Trash? Did you just call my goods trash, brother?"
"Who the hell are you?"
Some guy who had laid out a mat to sell his wares suddenly flew off the handle. Did he not recognize my face? I mean, it felt a bit embarrassing to say it myself, but I was practically a superstar around here lately. I touched my face and looked around. Sure enough, everyone was either avoiding my gaze or snickering at the man.
"Is that idiot seriously picking a fight with the Mountain-Crushing Monstrosity...!"
"He's got some nerve to do that to the Blood-Fiend Vanguard. He must have lost his mind."
"Huh? Why are you two using different titles? I heard his title was the Giant Wing of the Vanguard?"
Ah, so he's just a lunatic. Well, of course. The world is full of all kinds of people. And that's just how war goes.
"You've wounded my pride... Kuh!"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. You're coming with me."
I didn't even want to waste breath talking to him, so I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him along. After walking for a bit, the atmosphere shifted entirely, and a thick scent of blood filled the air. It wasn't the raw, merciless scent of a battlefield, but a depraved, sadistic stench.
"Ugh, fuck. What a stench."
If the previous market was a normal, mundane place selling food and gear, this place was a red-light district. It was like a boiling cauldron where demons, riled up by the thrill of battle, indulged in all sorts of depraved desires. This was supposed to be a temporary encampment, yet they had already set up a place like this. As I approached, a couple of guys acting as guards raised their hands to stop me, but the moment they recognized my face, they bowed deeply.
"What? You going to extort an entry fee from me too?"
"Oh, heavens, no! How could we possibly charge the great Blood-Demon of the Vast Sea?"
"The young lady instructed us to let her know the moment the Blood-Drenched Ruin arrived. She said she has plenty of prisoners, so please head inside quickly."
"Fuck my life."
Seriously, what am I, an Eevee? How many damn evolutions of my title do I have? *Crack!* I lightly tapped the head of the wild thug I had just kidnapped, crushing his skull. After absorbing his essence as a sacrifice, I tossed his limp corpse to the guards.
"Here's a tip."
"Oh, thank you, Lord Red-Horned Fiend!"
"Thank you, Lord Three-Qi Vanguard!"