Chapter 122: The War of Extermination (3)
Chapter 122: The War of Extermination (3)
The Jinju Eon family was a clan that had migrated north from Jinju in Hunan Province.
They traced their origins back to the Spring and Autumn period, naming Eonmun—a general under King Chogong Ungsim of the Chu Dynasty—as their progenitor. Consequently, they claimed a history spanning two thousand years.
After countless wars, they left their ancestral home and settled in Northern China. It could be called destiny that they eventually rebuilt their clan in Jinju, Northern Zhili.
A family with such a long history inevitably possessed a Saryeongdang—a shrine dedicated to the ancestral tablets of their forefathers.
"..."
Eon Do-cheon sat within the shrine, his eyes closed.
The commotion heard from a distance was far from ordinary.
He heard the sounds of the few remaining family members trembling in fear, the noise of disciples trying to stop those attempting to flee, and the clear, distant wailing of women.
It was the sound of a clan falling into ruin.
Eon Do-cheon had heard these sounds once before, sixty years ago.
"Though bones may break and bodies shatter, let there be no retreat and no regret."
He opened his eyes and looked up at the plaque hanging in the shrine. The family motto was written there in a bold, vigorous hand.
It was a plaque that had survived even when the entire estate burned down all those years ago.
That was how they lived. Every martial artist of this family lived by those words. Everyone who carried this blood lived with such pride. They lived, they died, and they were burned.
Thus, this shrine was named Bulmangdang—the Hall of Unforgetting.
It was meant to ensure that the blood and death of that day, and the great achievements of the ancestors who had passed, would never be forgotten.
He lowered his gaze to the ancestral tablets.
He read the inscriptions on the countless tablets one by one.
He couldn't entirely believe that the family had endured for two thousand years. Through numerous wars, the family genealogy had been burned and lost several times. In fact, most of the tablets in this shrine were less than sixty years old.
They were the tablets of kin who had died during the Great Righteous-Demonic War. Everything prior to that had been reduced to ash on that day.
Of course, the Jinju Eon family had risen again. But were they truly the same family as before?
No. Likely not.
"A family that should have been broken lived past its time, and a descendant who should have been shattered has lived a life of regret."
The great Eon family, once of the Five Great Clans of the Orthodox Faction, had effectively been exterminated during the Great Righteous-Demonic War. Yes, that was how it should be viewed.
The family's foundation had crumbled, its secret techniques were lost, and its banner had been snapped and crushed.
Refusing to accept that, he had struggled. He had rebuilt the family with the support of the Martial Alliance, acting as if he were a second founding father. He had reigned as a peerless master of the martial world, pouring his strength into reconstructing the family's lost martial arts.
Now that all those efforts had ended in failure...
He thought he felt no regret. He believed he had done nothing to regret. But now, before this shrine that was about to burn again, before the tablets of his ancestors...
Eon Do-cheon thought with his head bowed.
The Jinju Eon family on this land, within these halls, has been nothing more than a ghost since that day.
Therefore, I, Eon Do-cheon of the Heavenly Roar Fist, ask to lay down the prestige of the Fifteen Lords and the righteous spirit of the Four Great Orthodox Clans.
Sshrk.
He cut his hair, which had been tied back, and placed it before his father's tablet.
Believing that the clan elders, whose bodies were never even recovered, were looking down on him with their remaining spirits...
Thud, thud, thud. He struck his forehead against the stone floor in a deep bow.
Despite his immense martial power, not a drop of blood flowed, yet he struck with such force that the stone floor cracked.
"If Se-jeong escaped alive, he will carry on the family's existence somewhere. If he did not... then I will at least ensure the whole world knows of the Eon family's end."
If his son, Eon Se-jeong, survived, the Zhuge family would have to spend their lives wary of a master from the Jinju Eon family lurking in the shadows.
If he was dead, he would make Zhuge Yeon-seon regret this.
He had pondered for a long time. What did Zhuge Yeon-seon fear most? What situation would that madman, who craved war and chaos, find most intolerable?
It was the collapse of the martial world itself.
"How utterly ridiculous."
He didn't know Zhuge Yeon-seon's ultimate goal. Was it to redefine the structure of the martial world to his liking? Or to elevate the Zhuge family to the position of the world's greatest sect? He didn't understand, nor did he want to.
However, all those goals were only valid as long as the world known as the martial world, the Jianghu, was maintained. So, if he were to ruin it completely, how much would Zhuge Yeon-seon regret this day?
The method was surprisingly simple.
"F-Family Head..."
"Are you here?"
"Yes, outside the gate tower right now..."
"Wait outside. I will be out shortly."
"Yes, yes..."
The terrified servant bowed deeply and withdrew. Eon Do-cheon looked at his ancestors' tablets one last time and stood up.
In the midst of all the martial sects of Northern China gathered here.
In this situation where the prefects and magistrates of Jinju, and all the officials, were turning a blind eye to the Dragon Slaying Alliance's actions.
He would slaughter as many commoners, officials, and soldiers as possible.
On a scale incomparable to the secret work in Cheongheon County, he would do it in broad daylight, in a way that could never be hidden.
So clearly that this great city would not recover from its scars even after sixty years.
So decisively that the Imperial Court's wariness toward the martial world would turn into a full-blown panic.
He would make them realize that there are those capable of such feats—that the power of a single person can easily surpass tens of thousands of elite soldiers.
As long as the martial world existed, he would make their power feel as precarious as a candle in the wind.
Thus, he would force those paranoiac power-holders to discuss the extermination of martial forces more seriously.
"I will make the world know of the Eon family's end."
And so, the fall of the Eon family would become the final testament of the Jianghu.
Though bones may break and bodies shatter, let there be no retreat and no regret.
To those who used and discarded them, he would bestow the very future they feared most.
With that vow, Eon Do-cheon stepped out of the Hall of Unforgetting. True to the building's name, he held the resolve to ensure that no one would ever forget.
*
Peng Hyeon-cheon, my third brother... even if he is my brother, how should I put it? He’s a bit of a pathetic guy.
"S-Should I really be the one leading the vanguard? Huh?"
"No, you're saying that after coming all this way? Do you have any idea how big of an opportunity this is?"
"I know! I know! But, but..."
He was clearly jumping for joy when I told Grandfather I’d yield the vanguard position to him. He was practically covering his mouth with tears in his eyes back then, and now he’s acting like this again.
And apparently, a guy like this is treated like a celebrity among the young warriors of the Outer Hall. This is the future of the Peng family. It’s truly bleak.
They say the Outer Hall warriors gathered around him because of his easygoing nature and bold actions, but in my eyes, that’s all a lie. Isn't it just a gathering of leftovers who weren't chosen by my second brother?
After all, my second brother was mainly recruiting mid-level warriors who could actually help build his power base.
"Ugh... fine, I have to do it. It's something that must be done. Hyeon-cheon, Hyeon-cheon... you can do it! Yes, if it's me, I can do it!"
"What exactly are you so worried about? Biting your tongue?"
"Eon Do-cheon is there! Right there! Behind that gate tower!"
"Seriously."
Even I couldn't look at him kindly anymore.
Even our Great-Uncle, Peng Ik-cheon, who was listening nearby, ended up pressing his hand to his forehead.
"Grandfather is here too. Grandfather will deal with Do-cheon anyway, so just go and declare the start of the battle already."
"Ugh... Ugh! Hyeon-hwi, my brother. Cast a spell of courage on me!"
"Ugh, you idiot brother."
"Oooooh!"
Only after grumbling for a long time did Hyeon-cheon spur his horse forward. And then, something truly shocking happened.
"Listen up!!"
Hyeon-cheon's massive voice, infused with Qi, thundered across the area.
As if his timid, mumbly self from moments ago was a lie. Seeing him switch masks so naturally—
"Hah."
Should I say he's a guy who can do it when he tries?
Or should I say he's a genius at self-promotion?
That attitude is probably what bombarded the hearts of the young Outer Hall warriors.
The reputation that he is dignified when stepping forward and easygoing behind the scenes might actually be accurate.
"Why are we here today? Why have you all gathered with one mind in this vast territory of Northern China? Did we gather for punishment and justice, like those scholars in Wuchang?"
—No! No!
"Then, as the people of the world slander us, did we gather to commit another atrocity as the Black Path?"
—No! No!
"That's right, no! Certainly not! Warriors of Northern China! Heroes who have lived different lives in different counties and different sects! Listen! Raise your banners!"
Peng Hyeon-cheon turned around and shouted. With veins bulging in his neck and eyes shining brightly.
Mounted on the most stalwart warhorse from the Peng family stables, he stood alone at the front and commanded the Black Path warriors.
He raised his hand, pointing to one corner, then another.
The names of the sects poured from his mouth. The Heavenly Thunder Alliance, the Thousand Autumns Assassination Pavilion, the Black Snake Gang, the Iron Dragon Sect, the Great Red Black Lotus, the Manpyeong Sect, the Samha Gang, the Green Robe Fortress—
Every time a sect's name was mentioned, the warriors under its banner responded.
The shouts of the heroes became a roar, soon thundering through the entire official road, as they enthusiastically waved the various flags they had brought from their respective sects.
Seeing them all excited like that is quite funny. Men with fierce expressions were waving their flagpoles with such innocent, sparkling eyes.
However, would it look funny even from a distance? No, it couldn't. The sight of this crowd filling the road, waving their banners, was more like a tidal wave surging forward.
In the middle of this cold winter.
"We stand here desiring only one thing!"
What great justification could there be for an event of the Unorthodox Faction?
"We came to kill! Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance! That is the name of the judgment we shall pass upon those people! Their crime is survival, and their cause of death is the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance!"
Peng Hyeon-cheon turned his body. The Dragon Slaying Alliance flag in his hand was raised high.
He reached back, tensing his arm with strength, and threw the flagpole like a javelin.
Fwoosh! With a sharp sound cutting through the air, the flagpole flew over the gate tower of the Jinju Eon family.
"Speaking on behalf of the Leader of the Black Path Demonic Alliance—"
Boom! The sound of the flagpole slamming into something inside the gate tower echoed. And before it, the message from the Peng Family Head was delivered.
"Scour this land until none remain!"
With those words, the tidal wave surged.
I sat on my saddle and scanned the warriors passing by me.
It was hard to call them elite soldiers individually. There were Third-Rate and Second-Rate warriors mixed in.
Every Black Path warrior who could reach here within the time since the Black Edict was distributed had gathered.
Every warrior who could be dispatched while leaving only the minimum number of people to protect each gang.
This was the authority of the Hebei Peng family. Being able to move Northern China with a single command.
Suddenly, I remembered something I heard on the night the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering ended.
—No matter how harsh the winter.
—The sun is out, so spring is coming.
Taoist Danheo said that holding the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering in the middle of winter was a warning.
A warning to the villains who dared to try any nonsense while the Martial Alliance was still going strong.
It’s an attitude worth emulating, but we are not like that.
Especially when I see those people smashing the sturdy main gate of the tower, leaping over the walls, and running wild while waving swords, sabers, axes, and flails.
The Black Path Demonic Alliance expressed it this way through this scene:
—Winter has come.
—Now, in this place. The harshest winter has arrived.
—Just like ninety years ago, today as well.
—The world shall remember the Black Path Demonic Alliance.
Under the axe blow of a leaping warrior, the Jinju Eon family's plaque tilted, fell to the ground, and shattered.
Since it was decided to give most of the credit for this task to Hyeon-cheon, I intended to stay a step back and wait for things to wrap up.
Then, someone quietly approached my side.
"Beheading Blood Wolf."
"Ah, Pavilion Master."
"I have something to say about the Black Edict."
Without even exchanging glances, we continued our conversation while watching the bloodbath of the Jinju Eon family.
Seong Ryang-ha's Qi barrier was spread around us.
"Go ahead."
"I heard that the Jongri family joined hands with the Jinju Eon family. If so, can I take this as the will of the Peng Family Head?"
"Yes. Naturally."
Neither of our expressions changed. Seong Ryang-ha let out a deep sigh, turned his reins, and left.
To summarize his words, they could be interpreted like this:
—Was it the Peng Family Head's intention that everyone gathered after the distribution of the Black Edict belongs to the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance?
In other words:
—Does the Peng Family Head no longer intend to include the Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance in the Black Path Demonic Alliance?
Furthermore:
—Did the Peng Family Head distribute the Black Edict to strike the Chongqing Ten Thousand Ghosts Alliance?
The Black Edict meant a summons for all sect leaders belonging to the Black Path Demonic Alliance, specifically the Ten Great Sects of the Black Dao.
It had only been issued once before, and the law of the Black Edict was that it was issued only for war.
Was there any reason for those gathered to stop at merely subjugating the Jinju Eon family? With the Jinju Eon family's current state, the Peng family's Outer Hall forces alone would have been enough to crush them.
And from the Peng family's perspective, that would have been better for flaunting their power. The prestige of exterminating a clan belonging to the Five Great Clans alone is not easily earned.
Yet, they deliberately distributed the Black Edict. It meant they were preparing for a Great War.
And they only summoned the warriors of the Dragon Slaying Alliance. It meant they were going to discard the Ten Great Sects that did not belong to the Dragon Slaying Alliance.
Meanwhile, no Orthodox sects appeared to stop the destruction of the Jinju Eon family. It meant the Jinju Eon family had been abandoned by the Martial Alliance.
When all those things aligned...
—The Hebei Peng family has agreed with the Martial Alliance on the extermination of the Jinju Eon family.
In other words, even if a Great War broke out, it wouldn't be directed at the Alliance.
So, Seong Ryang-ha naturally deduced the meaning of the current War of Extermination.
'The War of Extermination against the Jinju Eon family is merely a litmus test.'
To see how quickly the sects of the Dragon Slaying Alliance, who received the Black Edict for the first time in ninety years, would mobilize.
To see how elite they were. To see how much martial power they possessed when their total strength was gathered.
To see what the chances of victory would be if they were to march toward Chongqing right now.
*
"The Black Edict? Why do such a thing when the Peng family's own forces are enough?"
"Because it would be problematic if our goal ended with the Jinju Eon family."
Zhuge Yun continued in a grim voice.
"Using the Jinju Eon family as a litmus test to confirm the strength of the Dragon Slaying Alliance, we must then use that momentum to head toward Chongqing."
On the way from Northern China to Chongqing, there are Shanxi and Shaanxi. Shanxi's martial world is one thing, but Shaanxi was a region that was like a sore spot for us.
The land where Mount Hua and Jongnam are located. The region where the defeat in the Great Righteous-Demonic War was finalized. The place where the Heaven-Destroying Blade Hegemon, Peng Gun-ak, fell in battle.
"If Peng Hyeon-hwi can step forward, open the path, and march further, that would be truly... significant, wouldn't it?"
Of course, the one leading the vanguard would be Peng Ik-cheon, and the most prominent one in our generation would be Peng Hyeon-cheon.
But that's only how it would look within the Hebei Peng family.
To explain it from the perspective of the Orthodox martial world:
"The only direct descendant of the Hebei Peng family who attended the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering and formed ties with the young experts of the Jianghu is personally leading the army, so they passed through Shanxi and Shaanxi without bloodshed."
Let them know that if at least Peng Hyeon-hwi is present when the prestigious Orthodox sects face the Peng family, negotiation becomes possible.
And that those gathered, instead of starting a Great Righteous-Demonic War or burning down Orthodox sects...
Devoted all their strength to crushing the wicked gathered in Chongqing.
"It would be right to start with that."
Zhuge Yun finished speaking and took a drink to moisten his dry mouth.
With the meaning to look beyond the punishment of the Jinju Eon family and the resolution of this deep grudge, and to see the grand strategy beyond.
This was the realm of military strategy. Truly, it was something to my taste.
In fact, Zhuge Yun had summarized the explanation in a few words, but catching up with the gaps in between wasn't difficult.
This is why talking to someone who thinks in the same category is so enjoyable.
Especially if that person is sufficiently insidious.
"Was one of your ancestors from the Jongri family by any chance?"
"It seems you want to die."
"I'm too high-level to be killed by a First-Rate."
*
Late at night, in the Family Head's hall of the Peng family estate.
Peng Ik-jin quietly looked down at his grandson kneeling before him.
His grandson, who was now fully grown and approaching thirty, was kneeling with a sulky expression like a ten-year-old.
Surely, there was a time when such an attitude seemed only cute. Of course. Was he not his own blood? Peng Ik-jin loved his family and therefore cherished all his grandsons.
But that was no longer the case. It was true that he was still a grandson he wouldn't mind putting in his eyes, but... it wasn't to the point of being satisfied.
At this point, when the comparison group had become so clear, which grandson could possibly satisfy him?
"Why is it Hyeon-cheon? Grandfather. For a task like this, shouldn't I have been the one to step forward?"
"You?"
Peng Ik-jin couldn't help but chuckle. At that reaction, Peng Hyeon-jeong's brow furrowed with shame.
To think he couldn't even hide a single emotion in front of his own Family Head.
The gap between his pride, which had grown bloated as a direct descendant of the Hebei Peng family, and his self-esteem, which had shriveled up from being squeezed between his superior older and younger brothers, was pathetic.
"Grandfather...! If you were to select the martial forces of the Outer Hall, it shouldn't have been the Flying Tiger Pavilion or the Black Tiger Squad, but the Green Tiger Squad, the Fierce Tiger Formation, and the Bear Tiger Pavilion! This is the first Black Edict distributed in how long, and you're entrusting the face of the Peng family to such weaklings?"
"Hyeon-jeong."
Peng Ik-jin leaned back into his throne and let out a deep breath.
"Never again, in my presence, carelessly label a family member as weak."
"Grandfather!"
"Lower your voice. Have you forgotten who you are standing before?"
Peng Ik-jin glared at his grandson from where he sat. That was all. With just that one look, Peng Hyeon-jeong had to clutch his chest and gasp for air.
The wrath of a peerless master, a fragment of those who can change the harmony of heaven and earth with their will alone, weighed down on the Family Head's hall.
To the gasping Peng Hyeon-jeong, the Family Head's voice descended.
"Do you know why your older brother entered closed-door cultivation?"
"...I do... I do not know...!"
"You dim-witted thing. Your brother joined hands with the White Lotus Cult and tried to kill your youngest brother using a borrowed knife. The price for that crime was one year of closed-door cultivation."
At those words, Peng Hyeon-jeong's face turned deathly pale.
"Yes. Ik-cheon and I already knew. We know about what you did in Shanxi and that trivial scheme you attempted by joining hands with the Martial Alliance.
Then, do you know why your brother's punishment was limited to only one year of closed-door cultivation, and why you are still standing before me talking such nonsense?"
Peng Hyeon-jeong now bowed his head, his hands trembling.
If he knew everything, it wouldn't be against the family law to strike off his head right this moment.
He gritted his teeth, forcing his pale fingers to curl.
"Because the blood debt for what you and your brother committed—the price for it—must not be collected by me. It is the task of your brothers. Hyeon-jeong. Can't you snap out of it? You are in a position where you must not be pushed aside not only by your older brother but also by your younger brothers. If someone other than you sits on this throne, do you think you'll be able to live?"
"...If that is so...! If that is so, why did you... why did you entrust this task to Hyeon-cheon instead of the youngest...!"
"Opportunities must be fair."
Peng Ik-jin's pressure eased. As Peng Hyeon-jeong gasped and barely managed to steady his breathing, his voice continued.
"Fair opportunities must be given to all my lovely grandsons. Do you think I cherish the youngest the most? No, you're wrong. I cherish the most outstanding child, and he just happened to be the one who stood out the most at the moment you were watching. Is there any law saying you cannot reach that place? Or any law saying the third one cannot?"
Peng Ik-jin thought.
His era and these children's era were so different. The severity of the times, the intensity, the harshness, the cruelty...
He still remembered Northern China burning after the defeat in the Great Righteous-Demonic War. He remembered the time when the screams of family members and the scent of blood vibrated throughout Northern China.
Back then, internal strife was a luxury they couldn't afford. Even the slightest crack would have meant the family's destruction. His own brother had voluntarily renounced his claim to the succession, choosing instead to remain his most loyal subordinate.
But not every generation of brothers could be like them.
Fortunately, he had only one son, but he had been blessed with four grandsons.
Perhaps it was the potency of the Peng bloodline, but every one of them was gifted—and not a single one lacked ambition.
In a way, he had to consider it a blessing that the times had changed.
As long as he, Peng Ik-jin—one of the Three Venerables of the World—drew breath, the walls of the Peng Family Estate would remain impregnable. In this era, even if internal conflict broke out, no outside force would dare set foot within their domain.
If a bloody struggle for succession was inevitable, it was better for it to happen now, before it could truly tear the family apart.
If the most exceptional among them survived to lead, the future of the Peng family would be forged into something even stronger.
"Hyeon-jeong. I have not yet chosen a successor for this seat."
"Yes, Family Head."
"So, do not cross the line again, but do not give up either. Prove yourself fairly and become the greatest among your brothers. If you do, this seat will be yours. I will say it once more: as my grandsons, you will all be given an equal chance. Do not squander yours."
Peng Hyeon-jeong bowed deeply and withdrew. Peng Ik-jin watched him leave for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh.
He was now alone in the Family Head’s Hall.
"Buying time for that brat and coddling a snot-nosed child at my age... it's no easy task."
But since the boy had kept his word, he could not break his own promise as a grandfather.
"Blade Earl... Haha... Blade Earl."
The grandson of the Blade Emperor is the Blade Earl. What a satisfying title.
A deep smile creased the old Family Head's face.