Chapter 356
Chapter 356
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 356
>Chapter Title: Intelligence (1)
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Il-mok opened his mouth toward the maidservants.
“Anyway, it seems they’ll handle things in the north on their own, so we just need to tighten up security on our end. That includes the merchant houses, as well as Gansu and Sichuan. Spies are bound to sneak in to gather information.”
“The Maitreya Cult followers already believe we’re the Maitreya Cult anyway, so there shouldn’t be any major issues. I’ll make sure to warn those who came from the Divine Cult to stay vigilant.”
After finishing their discussion on future plans like that, the maidservants left the hall to relay Il-mok’s orders.
Left alone, Il-mok finally lifted his head to gaze at the ceiling with a somewhat regretful expression.
There was one fact Il-mok had deliberately not mentioned to the maidservants.
That all the countermeasures he’d outlined were mere stopgaps.
Every single one was just a delaying tactic—none could fundamentally prevent a full-scale war with the Martial Alliance.
‘If we can fool them for over five years, that’d be ideal, but it’ll probably be impossible.’
Since Il-mok hadn’t become the cult leader, he hadn’t heard Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi’s decree, which had been passed only to the Silver Shadow Pavilion Lord.
The decree to bide their time for ten years, building strength in hiding to reclaim the Central Plains.
Yet even without hearing it, Il-mok shared the same thoughts as Hyeok-ryeon Il-hwi.
That fighting the entire Central Plains with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s current power was too risky.
Not only would victory be difficult, but even if achieved, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
Having worked as a civil servant in his previous life, Il-mok knew all too well that winning a war and governing the seized territory were entirely different matters.
He’d rolled around at the grassroots level, clashing with the public for years.
In lands ruled by a single nation for decades, people ignored officials’ words like they were passing wind. If a former enemy force tried to govern, no one would listen.
To claim and rule this vast Central Plains required not just winning the war, but having enough manpower left afterward.
That was why he was trying to buy time however he could.
They needed more time to build greater strength.
“…It’d be nice if an alliance formed or something.”
Out of regret, perhaps, Il-mok muttered to himself.
How wonderful it would be if their alliances held even after their true identity was exposed.
As thoughts of alliances crossed his mind, Il-mok suddenly recalled something from his Korean history studies.
The history of Goryeo, where local clans were united to form a single kingdom.
‘Hmm. Maybe it’d be better to introduce Hwangbo Se-hee to my senior brother?’
It was the idea of binding families akin to local clans through marriage alliances. His senior brother was still unmarried anyway—why not have him take on about twenty-nine wives this time?
‘Can’t marry beggars or Taoists, though. That wouldn’t fly.’
Il-mok chuckled idly at the silly thought, but his expression soon changed.
A strange idea had popped into his head amid the idle musings.
There was exactly one way to preserve their current alliances even if the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s identity was revealed.
‘Just create a bigger enemy.’
The simplest way to unite internal foes was to fabricate a greater external threat.
The problem was, from the orthodox sects’ perspective, who could be a bigger enemy than the Demonic Cult?
‘The Blood Cult… honestly, it’s iffy.’
Their atrocities were unspeakable, but they weren’t an enemy the orthodox sects would join hands with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to fight.
Unless those corpses they hid were unimaginably monstrous beyond comprehension.
‘The imperial court’s the same issue.’
If the true culprits behind the massacre of thousands in Guizhou City—disguised as the Blood Cult’s doing—were the imperial court as Il-mok suspected, then they’d committed horrors no less vile.
But even that felt slightly insufficient.
Rebelling against the imperial court was treason, after all.
‘Factoring in that we hid our identity and deceived them, we need something bigger. Something that overshadows all those issues and forces the alliances to keep holding our hand….’
Lost in such thoughts, Il-mok gazed at the ceiling, letting out a wry chuckle with a sigh.
“Well, at least there’s a minimal possibility, so that’s fortunate.”
If the imperial court was indeed behind the Guizhou City massacre, one unsolved riddle remained.
The purpose behind such a horrific slaughter.
That yet-unrevealed purpose might just be the final piece to complete the picture Il-mok envisioned.
* * *
Two days later.
“We’ll take our leave now.”
Hwangbo Ak departed Lanzhou accompanied by Hwangbo Yeon, Hwangbo Se-hee, and their retainers. The Wudang disciple Yunbaek Dojang left with them as well.
Il-mok saw them off with utmost sincerity, occasionally making time to converse with Hwangbo Ak, Hwangbo Yeon, or Yunbaek Dojang.
He even sparred directly with Yunbaek Dojang, who was far beneath him in skill.
Though he didn’t offer direct instruction, Il-mok had faced him for over thirty exchanges.
For someone of Yunbaek Dojang’s talent, it was more than enough to spark enlightenment.
It was simply Il-mok’s growth that was freakish. Yunbaek Dojang was an exceptional talent who’d reached the transcendent realm at just thirty.
Whether due to that spar or because the Maitreya Cult followers living in Lanzhou all seemed so happy,
Yunbaek Dojang departed with a look of firm conviction.
“Amitabha. As the two donors said, the Maitreya Cult are undoubtedly good people. No matter what anyone says.”
He’d shared such conversations over the past two days mainly with Hwangbo Yeon and Hwangbo Se-hee.
If Il-mok had seen, he would have smiled in satisfaction.
He’d even sparred with Yunbaek Dojang precisely to earn their trust.
There was a slim but real chance their alliance wouldn’t break.
Once they were completely out of sight from Lanzhou, Il-mok turned to the maidservants.
“Now that the ones we need to watch are gone, it’s time to check that place out.”
“That place… where do you mean?”
“The Faith Education Center.”
The institution once created to weed out Haomen spies. The Faith Education Center.
It had started as a training ground for new converts, but its purpose had flipped.
Now, it selected only the most devout Maitreya Cult followers, revealing the truth to them.
* * *
The next day.
Il-mok arrived at the Faith Education Center after leaving Lanzhou.
At a time when Martial Alliance spies would soon start infiltrating, this place was extremely dangerous.
If even one person who learned the truth here let a word slip, all their efforts could crumble.
But conversely, it was the most vital place precisely because of the timing.
In the worst case—if their secret was exposed to the Martial Alliance far sooner than Il-mok anticipated—
This could serve as their final bastion.
Even if the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult warriors retreated to the stronghold unprepared for war, the followers trained here could remain in the Central Plains, acting as a network of spies.
Thus, Il-mok had come to see for himself.
To confirm exactly what training occurred here, and whether those trained were truly trustworthy devotees.
Under the guidance of one of the instructors, Il-mok entered secretly to avoid disturbing the trainees.
Guided by the instructor, he reached the destination, where the training unfolded before his eyes.
“Maitreya, after eons have passed, will recreate this world.”
An instructor preached doctrine from the podium.
“Aaah. Maitreya.”
“Save us.”
Below, the most devout Maitreya Cult followers fervently responded to the sermon.
“Close your eyes and recall. Those who tormented you. Those who forced suffering upon you.”
“Aaah.”
“So horrific.”
At the instructor’s command, some shed tears with eyes shut, others trembled in terror.
A woman kidnapped by bandits and sold to a brothel, forced to sell her body. A middle-aged man stripped of all possessions over a forcibly loaned debt.
For these people, whose wounds had begun healing with the Maitreya Cult’s arrival, reliving those memories brought forth sobs.
“The Maitreya we Maitreya Cult followers await will punish all such evildoers, bearing the world’s sins alone.”
“Aaah.”
“Maitreya!!”
“Save us from our suffering!”
The Maitreya Cult doctrine was originally just the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s teachings thinly veiled in Buddhist precepts.
“Then I ask again. What is needed to recreate the world?”
“Destruction.”
“Punish all evil and grant us peace.”
“Maitreya comes! Salvation for all!”
And the instructor at the podium was now carefully peeling away that veil.
“But the world deems such destruction—breaking its rules—evil.”
“No! No!”
“Maitreya is not evil!!”
As devotees shouted like they were speaking in tongues, the instructor shook his head.
“Tsk. Evil is evil. Yet Maitreya bears even that stigma, calling Himself evil. The greatest evil who will eradicate all that disrupts the world. Thus, we must call Him this: the devil that devours evil. The greatest of devils. Heaven’s grandest devil. The Heavenly Demon.”
“Aaaaaah….”
At the instructor’s final words, the listeners shuddered as if seized by convulsions.
“Hear me! We await the one who will purge the world’s evil! But the world will call Him who breaks its rules evil, and punish us His followers! Thus, we call Him not Heavenly Demon, but Maitreya, awaiting His arrival! Understand?!”
“We will! We will!”
“Save us!!”
As devotees burst into tongues everywhere, the instructor—whether soothing or inciting them—struck a wooden fish and chanted like a mantra.
“Maitreya comes. Salvation for all.”
“Maitreya comes!! Salvation for all!!”
As the deeply immersed devotees responded, his chant shifted.
“Heavenly Demon comes. Prosperity to all demons.”
“Heavenly Demon comes!! Prosperity to all demons!!!”
Praying for release from their past torments, the devotees bellowed at the top of their lungs.
“…….”
Il-mok, watching silently from the shadows, soon turned and left the Faith Education Center.
What a bizarre sight.
With his keen senses, Il-mok could tell there was nothing unusual about the training.
No strange drugs like that Gui-go-ja freak used, no binding and forced indoctrination.
If it had been that kind of brainwashing, Il-mok would have stepped in to punish the instructors and dismantle the center himself.
That sermon had simply revealed the truth.
At most, it employed clever rhetoric, but to non-believers, it’d be meaningless nonsense.
That’s why Il-mok left without lingering.
‘…Those reactions couldn’t possibly be faked.’
The devotees there were that devout.
To those trampled and exploited, the Maitreya Cult—the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—was the single ray of light piercing their dark skies.
In other words, this wasn’t a place to brainwash devotees.
It simply informed the already faithful of the truth and ensured their silence.
“With that level of devotion, betrayal isn’t even a concern.”
As long as the center’s location stayed secret, there’d be no issues.
“Everything’s fine, but….”
Replaying the training in his mind, Il-mok muttered with a troubled expression.
“…From now on, I won’t even be able to argue when someone calls us a cult.”
The zealots’ faith sent chills down Il-mok’s spine.