Chapter 118: Those Evil Blood Cult Bastards (6)
Chapter 118: Those Evil Blood Cult Bastards (6)
At least three villages had been evacuated.
They were cleared out so cleanly that there wasn't a single trace of resistance. It was as if the people had simply evaporated.
In one house, a dining table sat half-finished.
Because it was winter, the food hadn't rotted, but dust had settled on the old dishes. It looked as if someone had been eating just moments ago and had suddenly stood up and left.
"Traces of sorcery."
"Is it the 'Clear Fields and Fortify Castles' strategy?"
"Most likely. Considering the distance from here to Yeonam, their intention is to starve out any martial artists lured this way."
Martial artists consume far more calories than commoners.
Due to the nature of martial artists who engage in constant, intense physical activity, they require more than twice the calories of a commoner to maintain their combat effectiveness.
Furthermore, considering the caloric burn in winter, evacuating the civilian residential areas could be a meaningful tactic.
I certainly remembered how Murong Cheong and I had nearly starved to death on our way to Wuchang.
However, the Jiangnan Heavenly Merchant Guild hadn't intended to go to Tianjin for trade in the first place.
"Listen up! Do not touch the well water. Understood?"
"Then can we drink the red wine, Unit Leader?"
"Sure, do whatever you want."
The martial artists of the Demonic Cult, disguised as a merchant group, took out dried rations, drinking water, and anti-poison wine from their luggage to settle their meal. It was essentially no different from winter roadside camping.
This was a group of martial artists whose entire cargo consisted of food and armaments.
In other words, they were a combat unit with a fully equipped supply chain.
There was no way the martial force escorting the Little Heavenly Demon would scavenge for food in the woods.
Did they think the Little Heavenly Demon was a joke? She was the future of the Demonic Cult.
"Young Master Peng... it's so cold."
"You're supposed to be immune to heat and cold..."
Once you reach the Peak Realm, this level of cold shouldn't even harm your body...
I roughly pushed Hwa-yeong away as I finished my meal. Zhuge Jeong-yeong was also finishing his preparations.
*
"The Demonic Cult? You're saying the Peng and Zhuge families have joined hands with the Demonic Cult? Are you certain?"
"Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism is one of the groups that clashes most fiercely with our cult. There is no possibility of misidentifying that wicked sect of heretics. We have yet to confirm what the Demonic Cult is plotting in Jiangnan, but if the young master of the Zhuge family is accompanying them, it is certainly no ordinary matter."
"Haha, ahahaha! That idiot from the Zhuge family has finally blundered! If the evidence is clear, how could we fail to prove our innocence?"
Eon Se-jeong stood up, laughing heartily.
The handful of martial artists he had brought along, as well as the Blood Cult spies, rose with him.
"If we cut off their heads and bring them to the Martial Alliance, what clearer evidence could there be? If we reveal that the Zhuge family conspired with the Peng family and the Demonic Cult to commit atrocities in Jiangnan—and that the Murong clan is also entangled in this—would the Alliance dare to condemn only our family?"
In truth, Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism—the Heavenly Demon Cult—belonged to the Outer Martial World sects that did not have major friction with the Martial Alliance.
Due to the nature of the sect they followed, they were counted among the Three Evils Beyond the Great Wall, and the government had designated them as a "Demonic Cult," but that was a separate matter.
They were people who revered their own Living God as the most precious being in the world rather than the Emperor, and who declared that only strength, regardless of bloodline, could prove one's worth. Naturally, they were not a sect the government could ever recognize.
However, from the perspective of the Martial Alliance, it was different. They were a martial sect that lived amongst themselves, tucked away in the distant Heaven Mountains without encroaching on the territory of the Central Plains.
Their fame and prestige were legendary, but unless they specifically trespassed on the Alliance's interests, why would the Alliance go out of its way to provoke them?
Nevertheless, the Alliance had to outwardly maintain hostility toward all of the Three Evils Beyond the Great Wall. Unless they wanted to become enemies of the Imperial Court, they had to maintain that stance. If the Eon family could exploit that gap, they had a path to survival.
The Hebei Peng family has joined hands with the Demonic Cult. If the Imperial Court learns of this evidence, they can uproot the Peng family from the North China lands.
The Zhuge family is using both the Peng family and the Demonic Cult to plot in Jiangnan. If the Jiangnan White Forest Association learns of this evidence, they can greatly shake the Zhuge family's position.
The Murong family embraced their path. They even used the Maritime Prohibition Fleet, which operates under the government's recognition, for private purposes. If the Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong finds out, would he simply stand by and watch the Murong family?
No matter how much the local government maintained the unwritten rule of not intervening in the affairs of the Murong sects, treason was an exception. It was never an exception.
The Ming Dynasty was more sensitive to treason than any other dynasty in the history of the Central Plains.
For the past 200 years, they had to suppress rebellions, large and small, during every Emperor's reign.
If the Eon family could achieve all of that... then.
"If we uproot the Hebei Peng family from North China, the Dragon Slaying Alliance is finished."
The Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance was the most powerful martial group among all the factions of the Black Path Demonic Alliance.
If their leader, the Hebei Peng family, was ousted as traitors, the aftermath alone could tear the Dragon Slaying Alliance apart.
Then, the status of the Jinju Eon family, which had been at the forefront of resisting the Dragon Slaying Alliance, would naturally rise. Both the Imperial Court and the Martial Alliance would have no choice but to respect the Jinju Eon family.
They would become heroes who endured 'dishonor' to bring peace to North China.
Eon Se-jeong's mind cleared.
He had now completely erased the fact that he was currently allied with a wicked woman of the Blood Cult—whom both the Imperial Court and the Martial Alliance hated more than the Demonic Cult—and the fact that this Blood Cult woman had slaughtered innocent civilians.
Just this once.
With this one success, he could shed all 'false accusations' and re-establish his family as a great orthodox martial sect once more.
If that happened, would the Namgung family still be able to act so arrogantly as the world's number one family?
If the Jinju Eon family could swallow all the interests held by the Hebei Peng family, the title of the world's number one family would naturally be theirs.
"We strike right now."
"Would it not be better to wait until nightfall? Would it not be better to wait for them to grow hungry?"
"I do not know what state the main house is in even during this short time. I do not know what persecution my father and the people of the Eon family are enduring. Just as they have no time, we do not have the luxury of leisure."
How long would it take for the Eon family's designation as public enemies to reach the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance?
That was why they were blocking them from entering North China, but even if they stopped them here, they couldn't control the information forever.
News of this magnitude would inevitably reach the Dragon Slaying Alliance.
There were rumors that the Hao Clan and the Black Forest July Society had recently been building quite a friendship with the Dragon Slaying Alliance.
If so, this was a race against time for everyone involved. And...
"Hyeong-shin. I can finally complete your revenge."
The resentment of a father who lost his son was not light.
He had already heard the news about Eon Hyeong-shin's severed head being delivered to the Martial Alliance.
The emotions he had to swallow while weeping tears of blood that day were not light either.
Though he couldn't get his dead son's head back, if he could at least offer the culprit's head before his son's empty grave, it would bring comfort to his son's wandering soul.
Eon Se-jeong was a Super Peak master who could be considered nearly complete as a martial artist.
The torrent of emotion emitted by a master standing within the Intent Domain was bound to corrode the nature of heaven and earth.
As that poignant rage slowly began to burn around him, the falling snow began to melt and scatter on its own.
"If that is your wish, we shall also complete our preparations. Everything will be resolved smoothly today."
Jeok Il-ryeon gestured toward the back. The spies who read her hand signals each controlled the blood-men made from the corpses of the commoners. Their number reached at least a hundred.
The masters of the Outer Hall, dispatched under the banner of invading the Central Plains, were also of no mean level.
A small strike force composed of Peak Realm masters. In a short engagement, they were a force capable of wiping out a small-to-medium sect within two hours.
Added to that were the masters of the Eon family; One-Star Fist Lord Eon Se-jeong himself was in the Super Peak Realm, and the martial artists under him had reached the pinnacle of the First-Rate.
The group included elders of the Peak Realm who had been set aside in case the Eon family was destroyed.
The minimum personnel required to re-establish the sect should Eon Do-cheon choose to die in battle were here.
The martial power gathered was enough to claim the title of the largest gang in a single county.
I can do it.
If he succeeded just this once, he could resolve all the family's dishonor!
Eon Se-jeong and Jeok Il-ryeon each looked at their forces with satisfaction and began their march.
In the past history of the Murim...
They failed to sufficiently consider what happened to those who ambushed the martial artists of the Hebei Peng family.
They failed to consider the price paid by those who plotted against the Zhuge family.
And because they did not know the results faced by those who attacked the martial force of the Demonic Cult, including the Little Heavenly Demon...
Because they did not know how fatal the combination of a lack of information and self-assurance could be.
*
"Wow, just how many of them are there?"
"Counting only those in sight, there are about a hundred and forty."
I tried to count at Zhuge Jeong-yeong's answer but gave up.
From deep within the forest, from behind trees everywhere, people were popping out and approaching, surrounding our entire group.
The Demonic Cult guards had already dropped their luggage and were drawing their weapons.
They no longer made even the slightest effort to pretend to be porters.
And from among them, two relatively normal-looking people slowly walked out.
"Peng Hyeon-hwi. And Zhuge Jeong-yeong. Your courage in walking into the jaws of death is commendable, but are these mere Demonic Cult lackeys all you've relied on? If this is the level of the Zhuge family's schemes, then I've seen enough."
"Are you Se-jeong?"
"...I am the One-Star Fist Lord, Eon Se-jeong."
"You do look like Hyeong-shin."
Whether he heard our whispering or not, Eon Se-jeong stepped forward with a roar.
"I will make you pay double for that arrogant behavior. Do you truly believe you can leave this place alive? Once I cut off your heads and spread this fact to the Alliance and the Imperial Court, do you think your pathetic families will be able to survive?"
"Ah, so you're criticizing the fact that I'm currently with the great heroes of the Esoteric Cult?"
I shrugged and pointed at the woman who looked like a Blood Cult master, causing a vein to pop on Eon Se-jeong's forehead.
"A gentleman walks the Great Path even if he must endure temporary dishonor! Your wicked schemes have already been revealed to the world, so how do you intend to excuse them?"
"Anyone would think I was the one who slaughtered civilians, tortured an elder of the Murong family, and invited Blood Cult friends to the Alliance. Se-jeong. Do you have no conscience?"
"You brat whose blood hasn't even dried on your head!"
"It's a problem when 'experience' becomes a point of pride simply because you've aged."
It was hard to hold back my laughter. I pushed Hwa-yeong, who was trying to step forward, behind me and spoke.
"I'm actually curious where you get this confidence. Those blood-men? The moment a Peak Realm master becomes a blood-man, they don't even reach the level of a First-Rate. Do you feel like you've built some grand army just by using commoners as jiangshi?"
The battles of martial artists are not settled by numbers. If they are just commoners, no matter how many there are, they aren't a major threat.
For commoners to resist those who have mastered martial arts, they need a qualitative gap, not numbers. Something like firearms.
From the First-Rate level upward, a martial artist is no different from a god of death to commoners.
You could say the very composition of the person changes.
And in this place, not even a single porter putting down his load was below the First-Rate level.
The Little Heavenly Demon's entire escort force was right here.
"Do you act so bold relying on a few Demonic Cult lackeys? It's a pathetic sight. Did a few Demonic Cult spies planted in Jiangnan look like such grand soldiers to you?"
"I have long heard the reputation that there are no figures in the Jinju Eon family besides Eon Do-cheon."
Seo Wi-ryang, who had drawn his sword and was struggling to suppress his laughter, continued.
"One-Star Fist Lord Eon Se-jeong. Your pathetic fame was indeed far too much for your insight."
"State the name of the nobody who speaks so boldly. Who are you to dare open your mouth in this place?"
"I am Seo Wi-ryang, the Law Enforcement Guardian of Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism."
At his words, the Blood Cult woman gasped, catching her breath.
She hurriedly scanned her surroundings. She was trying to identify the faces of the Demonic Cult martial artists.
There was no need for that. Seo Wi-ryang lightly tore off his human skin mask, burned it at his fingertips, and shouted roughly.
"Law Enforcement Unit!!"
"Yes!!"
"Enforce the Law!"
At that moment, the snow piled on the martial artists' shoulders exploded and scattered.
The naturally rising Protection Aura began to scatter every single snowflake.
The unique aura of martial artists who had reached the Peak Realm thundered like drums.
Boom, boom, boom.
Like the war song of a marching demonic army.
Emitting a somber drumming sound, each of the martial artists gripped their swords and pointed them in all directions.
"The Demonic Cult's Law Enforcement Unit...?! What on earth are you plotting here in the Central Plains, thousands of miles away—!"
"Heavenly Mandate."
Seo Wi-ryang smiled thinly at the horrified Jeok Il-ryeon and flicked the tip of his sword.
"There is nothing else."
"Ugh...! Fist Lord! Aside from Seo Wi-ryang, there is no one else among them who can match you! I will buy time with the blood-men, so you must coordinate with me!"
Hearing Jeok Il-ryeon's shout, a fun thought suddenly occurred to me, and I quickly rummaged through my bundle.
I grabbed something heavy and tossed it.
The frozen object drew a smooth arc and rolled to Eon Se-jeong's feet.
Eon Se-jeong looked down at his son's severed head.
With the character 'Peng' (彭) written on the forehead, eyes wide open. A head that was half-rotted and the other half pickled in salt, turned a bruised purple.
I watched Eon Se-jeong as he slowly brushed back the hair with trembling hands to confirm.
"One-Star Fist Lord Eon Se-jeong."
I really don't know why they act like victims. They joined hands with the Blood Cult, killed an elder of another martial sect, took the lives of countless civilians, and even joined hands with the Blood Cult just because they didn't want to become public enemies.
They plotted in alliance with the Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance. If their plan had succeeded, Tianjin and Beijing would have burned, and in the aftermath, countless martial sects, including my family, would have had to clash with the Imperial Army.
Without even trying to pay the price for all those actions.
Just seeing them act so dignified, considering themselves tragic victims... honestly, it was a bit disgusting.
I have no intention of understanding them, nor do I have the heart to. So.
"Come and collect your blood debt."
Can I face Eon Se-jeong alone?
That's a foolish question. Of course it's impossible. If that were possible, I wouldn't have clung to Hwa-yeong and asked for her protection on the way up.
Therefore, this is a strategy of provocation.
"After today, I will not leave a single person of the Jinju Eon family alive."
Eon Se-jeong let out a roar and lunged toward me.
Jeok Il-ryeon, who was about to prepare a joint attack, gritted her teeth and followed him, while the Demonic Cult martial artists began to scatter in all directions.
In that moment, Hwa-yeong's slender fingers appeared past my cheek.
"Do not approach my husband."
Black silk lines wound around Eon Se-jeong's limbs.