64
Chapter 64: Kang Dal-hui
As the Murim Alliance and Heavenly Demon Castle clashed across various regions, a bloody storm swept through the Martial World.
The Black-White War.
People called the battle between Heavenly Demon Castle and the Murim Alliance that. No one knew who coined the name. Just like that, the martial world divided into two colors and waged war.
In the early stages of the war, victory belonged to Heavenly Demon Castle. Like the Anhui branch of Heavenly Demon Castle, branches in various regions had been operating in secret, so many of the Orthodox factions in each province had failed to identify the locations of Heavenly Demon Castle's strongholds.
As a result, attacks from the suddenly emerging branches of Heavenly Demon Castle caught them completely off guard. The prolonged period of peace had caused them to lower their guard against Demonic Path factions, which proved to be their downfall.
For the following month or so, the Murim Alliance's disadvantage continued. Judging by the initial situation alone, Heavenly Demon Castle's momentum was so fierce it seemed they might unify the entire Martial World at this rate.
However, even if it had become a paper tiger, the Murim Alliance was the collective force of the Orthodox martial world. It was by no means weak enough to easily yield to the Demonic Path.
Soon, the reorganized Murim Alliance entered defensive warfare with the Nine Sects and Four Great Families as strongholds. The advantage of the defending side in defensive warfare wasn't limited to nation versus nation conflicts. In fact, because various formations were installed in most large sects and families, defensive warfare in the martial world could be said to be even more advantageous compared to national warfare.
Although Heavenly Demon Castle was the largest single force in the martial world, it didn't have the capacity to handle the entire Central Plains. If they had military forces on a national scale, they could have employed a strategy of surrounding strongholds while devastating the remaining regions, but they simply didn't have abundant enough manpower for that. If Heavenly Demon Castle's main force surrounded and attacked one major sect, the Murim Alliance's rear guard units would inevitably emerge and strike Heavenly Demon Castle from behind.
Nevertheless, Heavenly Demon Castle leveraged its early advantage to occupy Kongtong Sect, Kunlun Sect, Mount Emei Sect, Qingcheng Sect, and the Tang Family. However, they had to shed much blood to do so.
Did that become the opening?
When Heavenly Demon Castle entered a breathing period, the opportunity for counterattack came to the Murim Alliance.
As four of the Nine Sects and One Society and two of the Five Great Families fell, factions across the Central Plains began to grow tense. Small and medium-sized sects that felt threatened joined the Murim Alliance one by one. Once that trend took hold, sects from across the nation flocked to Zhengzhou to join the Murim Alliance.
As a result, the Black-White War entered a new phase.
Heavenly Demon Castle, which had once advanced as far as Shaanxi at the heart of the Central Plains, was soon pushed back to Gansu, and the branches that had simultaneously risen in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Hunan, and Jiangxi were all crushed. Riding the momentum, the Murim Alliance succeeded in reclaiming Kongtong Mountain and the Tang Family Manor.
It went without saying that both Heavenly Demon Castle and the Murim Alliance suffered tremendous casualties in the process. Thereafter, the war situation developed fiercely with back-and-forth struggles.
With Gansu and Sichuan as the boundary, both sides repeatedly advanced and retreated. Blood flowed to form rivers, torn flesh gathered to form hills, and corpses piled up like mountains.
The war grew increasingly fierce, but neither side could completely overwhelm the other. Eventually, the Black-White War showed signs of prolonging and entered a war of attrition. Though representatives from both sides hadn't met to discuss a ceasefire, the flames of war naturally subsided considerably.
On the surface, the victor of this sudden Black-White War was the Hall of Gathering Evil. Taking advantage of the fight between the Murim Alliance and Heavenly Demon Castle, they succeeded in dominating the underground economy across the Central Plains. Additionally, they accumulated vast wealth by selling weapons and supplies to both the black and white sides. They properly reaped the benefits while the martial world was in chaos.
Weapons were originally items controlled by the state and couldn't be sold freely, but martial world forces were different. The principle of non-interference between government and martial arts applied here as well.
From the perspective of the Imperial Court and officials, as long as the swords they used weren't pointed at them, they were willing to tolerate anything. Moreover, if they were waging a great war like now, what did weapon sales matter? Martial artists were thorns in their side anyway. If they couldn't control them, it was enough if they could reduce their power through neglect.
Eradicating them was impossible anyway.
The martial world had never disappeared since ancient times and had continued to exist while maintaining some connection with the government. Since officials and the Imperial Court also learned and practiced martial arts, it could perhaps be seen as a symbiotic relationship. There were definitely aspects where their existence increased national defense capabilities and war deterrence.
Nevertheless, the government always kept watch over the martial world. Especially at times like recently when barbarians invaded the borders, even more so. As chaotic as the martial world was, the current borders were equally chaotic.
War was being waged fiercely not only in the martial world but also in the northern regions of the Central Plains. And that place was truly where the phrase "mountains of corpses and seas of blood" fit. If ten people died per day in the martial world, hundreds, even sometimes thousands, died per day there.
As death became prevalent everywhere like this, windows of opportunity also opened.
Wanderers.
People who drifted through the world without fixed abode, making their living through swordsmanship and martial arts.
They were a peculiar breed of humans who had more work to do when the world became chaotic. The interesting fact was that demand for them existed on both the martial world and government sides.
When the martial world employed them, they became Wanderer warriors, and when the government bought them, they became mercenaries.
However,
Regardless of what name they were called by, there was one clear fact. No matter what words were used to package them, the truth was that they were ruthless human hunters. That one fact alone was an undeniable truth.
***
Datong, a city located in the northernmost part of Shanxi Province.
Today, too, a Wanderer Market was held here. Fierce-looking men carrying swords, sabers, axes, and such were sprawled out everywhere, their eyes gleaming. Some lay down to sleep, but most were waiting for sword brokers who would connect them with employers.
Sword brokers were those who connected Wanderers appropriate for the level of commission with employers and pocketed some profit. The sounds of haggling over prices here and there and disputes among sword brokers trying to bring in clients made the market buzz.
Also, throughout the Wanderer Market, tents—mobile dwellings of the northern barbarians—were set up, and inside them, harvested ears were being exchanged for silver coins or silver currency. The term "harvest" wasn't commonly used, but it was another word for hunting, and here it commonly referred to human hunting. There was no other special reason. It was simply called that because they went to war and harvested the ears of barbarians. And mercenaries made money by selling them to ear brokers at the tents. The ear brokers would put them in wrapping cloths and hand them over to military officials in exchange for silver coins.
Those who typically worked as mercenaries here were lower-class Wanderers. Those with reasonably useful skills could apply to the Murim Alliance's Wanderer Corps or Heavenly Demon Castle's Outer Demonic Being Squad. Wanderers selected after applying there would leave for Gansu. There, they would end up pointing their blade edges at each other. They were supposed to fight each other, yet they were recruited from the same place like this.
Ridiculously, neither the Murim Alliance nor Heavenly Demon Castle cared about this at all. To them, only the war of attrition itself had meaning. Since they couldn't stop the war anyway, they were trying to preserve their real strength in this manner.
Besides them, Wanderers with exceptionally outstanding skills mainly took on work guarding government officials or escorting transport goods for escort agencies. That side had better income and was safer. As such, it was work that greatly required skill.
Such Wanderer Markets could be easily found not only here in Datong but anywhere in the border regions. Especially in gloomy times like these, Wanderers became even more important. In periods when law and order were chaotic, those outside the system naturally became more meaningful.
Because of them, public safety in the nearby cities became a mess, but the Northern Expeditionary Force and garrison forces consistently turned a blind eye. Wanderers were a necessary evil anyway. These trash human scum were the same wherever they went. If that was the case, it was considered sufficient if they were used here to shed blood in place of others for money.
Whether the common people living in these frontier regions suffered difficulties or not was none of the concern of the local officials. If Wanderers were hunting dogs, weren't the people here the rabbits or bitches to appease their ferocity?
The most important task here in Datong was blocking and hunting the northern nomadic tribes. Wanderers were tools for that purpose. To properly appease hunting dogs, it was the hunter's virtue and correct attitude to occasionally throw them meat and, when they went into heat, throw them a bitch as well. If doing so prevented the hunting dogs from biting their master, the master was satisfied.
***
"We're departing for Guisui for a harvest. Those of you who are interested, don't hesitate and apply! Two silver coins per ear!"
The Wanderer Market suddenly grew quite bustling. It was because dozens of military officials had appeared. Their loud voices swept through every corner of the Wanderer Market, capturing the attention of the lower-class Wanderers. Two silver coins was quite a large sum, but considering it as saving a well-trained soldier, it was cheap. For that reason, the military hiring mercenaries was a very routine matter here.
However, the scale was exceptional. Though this was a Wanderer Market, it was rare to see dozens of military officials appearing at once to recruit mercenaries. The appearance of dozens of military officials meant they were recruiting mercenaries by the hundreds or even up to a thousand.
A large-scale expedition. It was the precursor to that. Of course, it was an excellent job opportunity for lower-class Wanderers. If they were lucky, they could easily harvest several ears. If they were even luckier, they might obtain children's ears or dead comrades' ears without lifting a finger.
"I'll go."
"Me too."
"Me as well."
Soon, Wanderers who had been sprawled sleeping here and there in the Wanderer Market got up and volunteered for the harvest.
"Name?"
"Ho Gu."
"Name?"
"Kang Paek."
Each military official recorded the names of those who volunteered one by one in the recruitment register. The reason for writing this down was to keep track of at least the minimum personnel. Since Wanderers were very willful people, keeping track of their numbers and names at least made control easier.
Each military official recorded about a hundred names that way. Compared to the number of military officials, it meant they had actually recruited over a thousand mercenaries. It was an unprecedentedly large-scale mercenary hiring even for this place.
"Anyone else?"
The military official who appeared to be the highest-ranking among them shouted loudly. There seemed to be no more volunteers as no one came forward. The military official asked "Anyone else?" one more time before closing the register.
But.
That was when it happened. A man sauntered over to him, snatched away the brush, and opened the register.
The man's physique was very sturdy, and his height was average. His hair, grown long in the back, was very dirty, and his front hair hung loose, covering both eyes.