Why Everything Goes to Hell
Murim Alliance Leader Namgung Soseon stared silently out the window, toward the direction of Sipmandaesan, from which no word had come.
Somewhere so impossibly far that it lay beyond the reach of sight, the Alliance's precious talents were fighting for their lives in a desperate escape.
"May the Primordial Heavenly Lord watch over them."
They were chivalrous warriors who had made their names with innate martial talent, yet never turned their backs when faced with injustice. True orthodox martial artists who had thrown themselves without hesitation into a mission this dangerous, one that would never even earn them glory.
Such people were rare even within the Murim Alliance. And among that party was his own son, who had gone in after Moyong Cheonghye—so of course Namgung Soseon's heart was in turmoil as he waited for news.
"No news is good news, I hope."
Some time had already passed since the rescue party was dispatched. If they had not been discovered mid-escape, some word should have arrived by now—by messenger hawk if nothing else.
As Alliance Leader and head of the Jegal Clan, his insides felt as though they were burning.
"Do not worry overmuch, Alliance Leader. Young Hero Dan Mujin has never once botched a job he took on."
It was Ilhogae of the Beggar Sect, urging him to trust the troubleshooter from Beijing, citing a success rate that brushed nearly one hundred percent, and near-total completion of every case.
"Though… even when the commission succeeds, doesn't the situation usually turn into a complete shitshow?"
"…"
Faced with the Alliance Leader's counter, Ilhogae scratched his cheek, momentarily at a loss for words.
As expected of a Sect Leader, he supposed. Even for work all the way out in distant Beijing, the man had hired him and thoroughly investigated his every move. Just as he said, the commissions got done—but the situations tended to spiral, the scale of the mess ballooning more often than not.
"Only sometimes. Only sometimes."
When Ilhogae defended him like that, Namgung Soseon's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at him.
"More importantly, Sect Leader, worry is fine, but it seems we must first deal with the problems festering inside the Murim Alliance itself."
Sensing the conversation drifting in an odd direction, Jegal Seon stepped in and brought up his own business. They had already fallen behind the Demonic Cult in the intelligence war, and it appeared spies had even infiltrated their ranks—so the Alliance strategist raised the need for a reverse-espionage scheme.
In this state, no matter what operation they tried against the Demonic Cult, they would be left staring at the back of their own heads. They would not know whom to trust how far, and mutual suspicion would shatter any sense of cooperation from within.
"Hmm. A fair point indeed."
Namgung Soseon nodded, as if finding the strategist's proposal valid.
Then Elder Ilhogae lifted a hand lightly and once again brought up Dan Mujin's name.
"How about leaving that to Troubleshooter Dan Mujin as well?"
He had once muttered something of the sort to Park Chil under his command, letting his specialty slip. Collecting unpaid debts, tracking the missing, infiltrating other sects or businesses to expose corruption and spies—every kind of work imaginable. That was the reputation of their candidate for the next Dragon Head Leader of the Beggar Sect.
"That young hero again? Looking at you, you seem oddly protective of the fellow. He wouldn't happen to be connected to the Beggar Sect, would he?"
"…How could that be? I merely recommended him because he is an outstanding talent."
Ilhogae denied any connection to the Beggar Sect and reaffirmed that the recommendation was based purely on results.
"And I have no doubt that young hero will distinguish himself on this rescue mission as well."
He intended to raise the next Dragon Head Leader properly, so that he would not follow in the footsteps of the current one. The ruts left by the cart ahead were all too clear—best to steer around them.
"Hm. If he truly performs as you say, I shall consider the next commission as well."
And so another commission was secured.
Did the candidate for next Dragon Head Leader even know of the extreme devotion of people like Park Chil, who was already spreading word of him? If he did, surely he would not pull the kind of stunts the current Dragon Head Leader did.
So please, bring them back safely, Young Hero Dan Mujin.
Holding that hope, Elder Ilhogae of the Beggar Sect gave a quiet nod.
Sipmandaesan, once painted in the crimson and gold of autumn maples, was now stained red with blood and corpses.
When we told those black-clad bastards to come at us, they surged in from every direction as if they had been waiting for the invitation.
Trajectories of killing intent filled our vision, a storm of blades.
Before, the four members of the Myeolmade party had barely managed to hold a defense—but once our four joined them, the tide of battle began to turn.
Especially Jo Harang. In front of that woman and her monstrous greatsword and tyrannical saber arts—cutting three or four men clean through at a time—even the enemy's human-wave tactics seemed to lose half their force.
And the Namgung siblings, backs pressed together, moving as one with the Unrestrained Sky Palace Sword Art as they carved through the enemy.
"Soyogeom! Witness this brilliant achievement of Jang Jin's!"
"Ha, ridiculous! From the leader of a mere Righteousness Unit?!"
Even the two unit leaders of the Murim Alliance were coordinating, cutting and hacking through the flood of enemies, blood-soaked and yet refusing to yield an inch.
And then there was the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden, who ever since my arrival had begun pouring out a terrifying presence as if she had awakened, sweeping the enemy away without mercy.
"Why… of all people, did it have to be you…!"
That presence was so savage and explosive that even I felt a little afraid to step up beside her. If an ally felt that way, how much worse must it have been for the enemies forced to face her head-on?
"You're actually insane. Commission or not, how the hell did you think walking into Ming Cult territory was a good idea?!"
After sweeping a wave of enemies aside with her poison arts and finding a brief opening to speak, Dang Yeohye smacked me across the back and scolded me.
Getting lectured by a woman so much smaller than me left a strangely mixed feeling.
"Who ever said I came because of a commission? Huh?"
The commission had only ever been secondary. If we were going to move anyway, better to move with reinforcements and get paid for it.
"My sister's life is in danger—how is a little brother supposed to just sit still?!"
I carefully did not specify which sister. Both Dang Yeohye's and Moyong Cheonghye's shoulders flinched at the same time.
"W-what. So you came all the way into the middle of this death trap… because of me…"
"Hey. Focus!"
I seized the end of my staff, thrust it out long, and hastily knocked aside a flying dagger that had been streaking toward Dang Yeohye. A sharp tingle ran through my fingertips—considerable internal energy had been packed into that throw. Far off, the Dark Spirit Unit Leader clicked his tongue in open regret.
"Get your head on straight. We have to get out of here alive together, don't we? You said there were still plenty of things you wanted to do with your future."
She was the one who had abandoned her clan and joined the Myeolmade for that very future, after all.
"You… you really are…"
Whatever meaning she took from those words, Dang Yeohye's voice trembled finely as she pulled free of my arms.
Kakang!
"Sohye, they look shaken!"
"Ha, even the great Ming Cult are only human after all! Before the Evil-Slaying Divine Maiden's presence, they can't help themselves!"
Moyong Cheonghye's eyes had gone wild the way they used to in her prime, reaping blood and screams without pause.
And from the moment all of us began cutting the enemy down in concert, our momentum climbed little by little. Like scattered stars gathering into a great constellation, it was not merely that our numbers had doubled—we were generating several times that much synergy.
"Skull-Cracking Staff! And you, you bastard…! Force the Dog to Kneel…!"
With me—whose internal energy was effectively endless, never tiring—and Moyong Cheonghye, a killing machine pure and simple, as the twin axes, we drove into their lines like a tidal wave.
Pupupuk! Seogeok!
A storm of white Gang Qi poured without rest from the tip of my staff. I could not yet replicate the Transcendent Realm's true trick of condensing and firing what I formed, but in endurance and sheer tenacity I was confident I already surpassed most masters of that realm.
I had already dropped fifty Ming Cultists, and still I was pouring out vivid Gang Qi without a hint of fatigue—so the cries bursting from the enemy ranks were pure disbelief.
"What the hell is that bastard…"
"His internal energy—how… Does he never tire?!"
Voices thick with shock. Realizing the momentum had shifted, they no longer charged in a swarm the way they had before, but hesitated and faltered.
"Young Hero Dan Mujin."
In that brief opening, Moyong Cheonghye—still back-to-back with me—spoke from right beside me.
"A chivalrous warrior like you must not meet an unjust death in a place like this. So…"
She clenched the hilt of her sword as if she had made some decision. Her expression had already become the resolute, solemn one I had seen on the cliff.
"No matter what happens, I will get you out of here alive."
"…"
Even if it cost her own life—that was the declaration from the vice leader of the Myeolmade.
I had no idea why she was suddenly like this. It was almost frightening. Had she always been the type to latch on so hard to someone who caught her eye? Or maybe…
Had she figured out my true identity? That question rose all the way to the back of my throat.
But there were far too many ears around us, and enemies still carpeted the ground in front of us.
"Uh, well… thank you."
In the end, all I could manage was an awkward, stock expression of gratitude.
Hearing it, she smiled for a moment in the middle of the battlefield, like a flower briefly blooming.
"What are you doing?! Have the children of the Ming Cult lost their nerve?! Kill the bastards in front of you this instant!"
Then came the Dark Spirit Unit Leader's roar, a cry that made the whole mountain ring. At that thunderclap of a bellow, the Dark Spirit Unit members seemed to snap back to their senses and raised their blades once more.
"We're already standing in a sea of blood."
"So there's no such thing as retreat."
Ordinarily, once forty percent of a force had been cut down and the enemy still stood firm, people wavered or fell back. But look at that unbending presence. Look at that obsession and killing intent, determined to slaughter us no matter what.
"Ming Cult Unbeaten…! Eternal Teachings Forever…!"
Their mad cries, ready to throw their lives away. A force that truly deserved to be called a Demonic Cult, right after the Blood Cult.
"We've finished preparing to die too, you bastards!"
Dang Yeohye shouted back, clear and ringing, refusing to be outdone. When that tiny woman unleashed that kind of force, the rest of the party steeled themselves as well and faced the enemy head-on.
"Orthodox Unbeaten! Die, you Ming Cult dogs!"
Eight voices could not make the mountain ring the way theirs had—but in sheer momentum, we matched them.
And so, in that complete mess of a state, we crashed into each other once more, each side intent on cutting the other's throat.
"Uwooooh!"
The battle unfolded in truly horrific fashion.
We clashed with everything we had, and by the time half a day had passed and the outcome became clear, I realized my head was still attached to my shoulders—and that the stench of blood at the tip of my nose would not go away.
"M-Mujin…"
Dang Yeohye's voice, as if every last scrap of strength had been drained out of her. It sounded truly unfamiliar after hearing nothing but her fierce, vigorous tone until now.
"W-we won, right?"
Jo Harang asked, collapsed face-down and gasping for breath.
When I looked around at the scene before us, a truly appalling landscape of mountains of corpses and seas of blood filled both my eyes.
After battle upon battle, we had finally cut down every last enemy. Of course, Ming Cultists were people too—when the tide tilted too far against them, some had fled—but that number did not even reach one tenth.
"Ghk… this… is not the end…"
Then the man I had taken for a corpse—the Dark Spirit Unit Leader, Jeok Gwang—ground his teeth at us from among the bodies. Even as he coughed up gouts of blood, he poured out ferocious hostility.
A terrible killing intent stretched toward us, clear as day in my eyes.
"The pursuit… will continue…"
Some of them had made it back alive; this was still Ming Cult territory, and they still had plenty of remaining forces—so the hunting would go on.
"In the end, the Ming Cult's flame… the White Fire will sweep over you… and the Central Plains…"
White Fire. I had heard that somewhere before. The unquenchable flame they supposedly held sacred.
"The current Holy Maiden… whispered the oracle so… Just wait and see…"
That word, too, I had heard somewhere.
The Holy Maiden of the Demonic Cult.
I stared at my blood-red palm without a word.
…
The previous Holy Maiden seemed thoroughly unsettled, and offered not a single word.