Chapter 365
Chapter 365
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 365
>Chapter Title: Truth (5)
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“You damned worm~!!”
At the thunderous roar coming from behind, the eunuch didn’t even dare to glance back as he pushed his feet relentlessly forward.
It was truly fortunate.
The Eastern Depot’s missions mainly involved assassinations and pursuits, so he had some skill in lightness skill.
He lagged a few moves in swordsmanship, but at least his lightness skill wasn’t far behind, so the horrific situation of that roar from behind drawing ever closer didn’t unfold.
“I’ll never let you go!!”
As if his throat were made of tempered steel, Dokgo Ryong pursuing him bellowed nonstop.
“Huff. Huff.”
How long had it been since he’d run until his breath came in ragged gasps like this?
Having already been flying through lightness skill for several shichen, Eunuch Cha was keenly feeling what it meant for a bitter taste to fill his mouth after so long.
It wasn’t just a matter of stamina or muscle. Even the internal energy that had always overflowed since reaching the Profound Realm was now showing signs of depletion.
“You won’t return alive!!”
Ignoring the roar resounding from behind once more, he dashed on for a long while.
Eunuch Cha’s fatigued eyes suddenly snapped wide open.
It was a horse.
A single horse was grazing on the grassland.
Whether it was a horse from some tribe that had escaped due to mismanagement, or one of the nomads’ horses they had killed wandering this area, he couldn’t tell.
No, Eunuch Cha didn’t even have the leisure to ponder such things from the start.
“Huff. Huff.”
Eunuch Cha hurled himself forward and mounted the horse’s back.
“Neigh!!”
The horse bucked wildly in resistance, but when Eunuch Cha used his internal energy to cling tenaciously to its back and press down, it finally gave up the struggle.
“Hyah!!”
As Eunuch Cha urged it on, the horse bolted in the direction he intended.
Only then did Eunuch Cha, somewhat relieved, glance back to see Dokgo Ryong right on his tail.
The gap had closed while the horse resisted.
“I’ll chop off all four of your limbs!!”
With the roar, the qi blade surging along Dokgo Ryong’s massive sword flew toward Eunuch Cha and the horse carrying him.
“Eek!!”
Eunuch Cha frantically drew up whatever internal energy he could from his dantian and fired back a blast of qi.
Boom!!!
A massive explosion rang out, and the horse, startled by the blast, accelerated even faster.
Neigh~!!
To seize the horse and Eunuch Cha, Dokgo Ryong swung his massive sword again. Knowing that the moment the horse fell, he too would be dead, Eunuch Cha gritted his teeth, accepted the internal injuries, and swung his sword desperately in response.
“Urk….”
Even as his insides churned from the internal wounds and blood trickled from his mouth, he swung his sword without rest.
How long had he clung on so desperately?
At some point, the distance from Dokgo Ryong began to widen again.
It was because Dokgo Ryong, pursuing on lightness skill while also firing qi blasts, had exhausted his internal energy.
“You damned wooorm!!”
Even amid it all, Dokgo Ryong roared thunderously, and Eunuch Cha let out a sigh of relief on his near-death face.
Still gripped by an ominous feeling that anything could happen, Eunuch Cha drove the horse on until Dokgo Ryong was out of sight.
“Haa. Haa.”
Stopping the horse, Eunuch Cha caught his breath and entered qi circulation and breath adjustment.
It was to recover the internal injuries from Dokgo Ryong and refill his dantian even a little.
After spending quite some time focused on healing his internal injuries.
Eunuch Cha jolted awake in shock.
“I’ll chase you to the ends of hell!!”
It was because of Dokgo Ryong’s roar.
Startled in the middle of qi circulation and breath adjustment, he had nearly fallen into demonic deviation.
Barely calming his internal energy, Eunuch Cha turned his head to see Dokgo Ryong charging on horseback.
Beside him were the rest of the group as well.
The group had finished dealing with the Eastern Depot remnants and joined Dokgo Ryong on horseback.
Eunuch Cha mounted again and fled southeast.
“Stop right there!!!”
Fleeing from Dokgo Ryong, who bellowed incessantly without tiring.
It was a grueling and horrific journey.
After dashing another half a day, the exhausted horse finally halted, forcing Eunuch Cha to dismount and resume lightness skill.
Whether fortunate or not, the horses the Demonic Cultists had been riding were scattered just the same.
After that, they continued the chase on foot in place of horses.
For a full day, the pursuit dragged on with lightness skill.
The Demonic Cult remnants couldn’t keep up with Dokgo Ryong and Eunuch Cha’s lightness skill and soon fell far behind, out of sight.
But since Dokgo Ryong was still chasing, he couldn’t stop.
Once internal energy was depleted, it turned into pure running.
How long had he run without sleep or proper food?
Even as his mind wavered, terrifying roars kept piercing Eunuch Cha’s ears.
“I’ll never let you live!!”
It was Dokgo Ryong’s roar.
In Eunuch Cha’s mind, the mission he’d been assigned or the goal of earning Grand Eunuch Tae’s trust had long been erased.
At some point, Eunuch Cha was driven solely by the desperate will to escape Dokgo Ryong’s grasp and survive.
Covered not just in dirt and bloody sweat but without even a moment to rest, soaked in his own filth, he kept running in his wretched state.
Wandering in delirium and running in his pitiful state for a long while, a familiar structure came into view.
“Haa. Haa.”
As if that place were the only escape from hell, Eunuch Cha blindly dashed toward it.
“You damned worm~!!”
Sure enough, Dokgo Ryong chasing Eunuch Cha roared and tried to follow, but upon spotting the fortress in the distance, he had to halt his steps.
It was a fortress built by the garrison to defend against nomad invasions.
Dokgo Ryong snorted roughly.
“Hmph.”
Dokgo Ryong had pushed himself just as hard chasing Eunuch Cha. Not a strand of internal energy remained in his dantian, and his limbs barely moved.
If he were in peak condition, it’d be one thing, but Dokgo Ryong knew all too well that charging in now would be suicide.
He only acted like a lone general due to his innate temperament and the lingering effects of demonic arts he’d endured for decades. Having already reached Transcending Demon, Dokgo Ryong was no longer a man swayed by demonic arts.
‘Dying for the Divine Cult is one thing. Entering there would just be a dog’s death.’
Finally stopping, he bellowed his final roar with all his might.
“Someday, I will personally slaughter you with these hands!! Wash your neck clean until then!!!”
At that roar, Eunuch Cha, who had been dashing toward the fortress in a daze, shuddered violently as if seized by a fit.
* * *
A group entered Lanzhou in Gansu Province.
Most of them, men and women alike, boasted sturdy builds.
They were the people of the Huangbo Family who had come from Shandong to this place.
Huangbo Ak, the family head, along with his daughters Huangbo Yeon and Huangbo Se-hee, scanned Lanzhou, which they were visiting again after nearly a year, and headed toward the Maitreya Sacred Cult’s scriptures hall.
Upon arrival, the cult’s followers, as if waiting, guided them.
“Family Head. The incarnation of Maitreya awaits.”
Huangbo Ak took only Huangbo Yeon and Huangbo Se-hee and followed the followers to a separately prepared annex.
There, the Beggar Clan’s Chief Iron Beggar King, the Rear Little Beggar Hero, the Qingcheng Sect Leader and Qingmu Daoist, Wudang’s Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal and White Cloud Swordmaster were seated.
Since the Huangbo Family in Shandong was particularly far, the others had arrived in Lanzhou first and were waiting for them.
“Thank you all for coming here.”
Once everyone needed was gathered, Il-mok clasped his hands in greeting toward them and first paid his respects.
“What is the reason for summoning us all like this? Have you perhaps found a clue about the Blood Cult?”
In response to Il-mok’s greeting, the Qingcheng Sect Leader asked first.
The Qingcheng Sect had wandered searching for Blood Cult traces for nearly a year under the Maitreya Sacred Cult’s guidance but had found no solid evidence yet.
The other factions were the same, so everyone looked at Il-mok with expressions tinged with various emotions.
“Our Maitreya Sacred Cult has not yet found Blood Cult traces either. However, while pursuing the Blood Cult, we stumbled upon something even more serious.”
“Traces more serious than the Blood Cult? What do you mean?”
“Could it be you found Demonic Cult traces?”
At their startled reactions, Il-mok calmly spoke.
“First, as I mentioned before, our Maitreya Sacred Cult believes the Blood Cult staged their annihilation as a deception tactic. That’s where our questions began. Then why stage such a massacre in Guizhou Province?”
Some tilted their heads in confusion, while others nodded in understanding.
“Well, because it’s the Blood Cult, they massacred for sacrifices to craft some ritual tool or perform sorcery.”
Huangbo Ak asked on their behalf.
In truth, since most murim folk thought this way, no one had doubted the incident.
The Blood Cult committing a massacre was horrific but not unusual.
“Considering the prior Central Plains situation, it doesn’t add up. Those present here are different, but back then, plenty used the Blood Cult as an excuse for turf wars, right?”
At Il-mok’s words, some wore bitter expressions, while others clicked their tongues in displeasure.
The displeasure wasn’t toward Il-mok but toward those who had acted so shamefully.
“Rather, if they discarded a situation convenient for Blood Cult activity to commit such a massacre, there must have been some gain. For example, completing those jiangshi they failed to finish during the Sichuan Secret Cave incident. The problem is, why are they still hiding those completed jiangshi now?”
Only then did everyone realize something was off, and Il-mok continued.
“So, we thought the opposite. ‘What if the bloodbath wasn’t caused by the Blood Cult but a third force?’ While investigating the Guizhou area where the massacre occurred, we discovered traces of a certain force.”
The room focused intently on Il-mok’s tale, eyes gleaming.
“Where was it?”
“We didn’t know at first either, but following those traces, we coincidentally encountered that force. They were eunuchs.”
“Eastern Depot!!”
At the word “eunuchs,” several cried out in shock.
Il-mok nodded at their exclamations, and Iron Beggar King asked.
“Why on earth would the Eastern Depot commit such horrors…?”
Iron Beggar King and Little Beggar Hero, among others, wore expressions mixed with doubt and disbelief.
“That point struck us as odd too, so we kept tracking the Eastern Depot’s traces. We lost several lives in the process, but we obtained crucial information.”
As if urging him to reveal it quickly, everyone fell silent and fixed their eyes on Il-mok’s mouth.
Il-mok placed documents he had brought onto the table one by one.
They were letters obtained while clashing with the Eastern Depot in the past by the Shadow Pavilion.
“These are letters seized while grappling with the Eastern Depot. Moreover, by comparing them with statements from a few luckily captured Eastern Depot members, we partially decoded their cipher.”
Finally, Il-mok placed on the table the letter Seo Wan-pyeong had barely obtained.
“And this is a letter penned by Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong. If anyone recognizes the Alliance Leader’s handwriting, feel free to verify.”
At the mention of a letter from the Alliance Leader, the gathered people reacted with fresh shock.
Amid it, Iron Beggar King stepped forward and read Cheok Pae-myeong’s letter.
“The content is unremarkable, but the handwriting closely resembles the Alliance Leader’s.”
“We obtained this while pursuing the Eastern Depot. Suspecting it was their cipher, we decoded it. And we got an absurd result.”
“What result?”
“It requested sending someone north to uncover our Maitreya Sacred Cult’s secrets.”
At Il-mok’s words, the room’s atmosphere sharply divided.
Some who trusted him to a degree were shocked, but others openly showed disbelief.
“Honestly, it’s hard to believe.”
“It seems too advantageous for your Maitreya Sacred Cult, doesn’t it?”
Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal and the Qingcheng Sect Leader said alternately. Iron Beggar King also seemed keen on maintaining neutrality.
“You can compare it with the Eastern Depot ciphers here. Also, I didn’t bring this up just to claim Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong is an Eastern Depot spy. As you all think, it’s too favorable for us.”
“???”
At the implication of more to come, everyone wore puzzled expressions.
“As I said earlier, we tracked the Eastern Depot. Astonishingly, their traces extended not only to the Martial Alliance but to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as well.”
Il-mok continued the tale.
From pursuing the Eastern Depot, they revealed that Deung Bi, the former Elder Council Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, was also an imperial lackey.
At the successive shocking revelations, people couldn’t easily close their mouths.
“So, the Eastern Depot was meddling in both the Martial Alliance and Demonic Cult simultaneously?”
“That’s right.”
“No one sane would do that without reason, right?”
“Exactly. There’s no need for the imperial court to plant spies in the Martial Alliance, citizens of the Han nation, and even if they seized both, what would it mean?”
“The Demonic Cultists wouldn’t submit to the imperial court, and with the pact of no interference between officials and murim, what use is having their puppet as Alliance Leader?”
As various thoughts spilled out everywhere, Il-mok stood quietly listening.
Then, seizing the moment of silence, Il-mok countered.
“We thought the same at first. But consider the opposite. ‘What if the imperial court sent spies to the Demonic Cult and Martial Alliance but never intended to absorb either?’”
As everyone made dubious faces wondering what nonsense this was.
Perhaps due to his familiarity with information, Iron Beggar King muttered with a blood-drained face.
“…The imperial court plans to wipe out all murim folk.”
Those with keen minds quickly grasped the situation from Iron Beggar King’s words.
“Such a horrific…”
As everyone was swept in shock, Iron Beggar King, who had first noticed the imperial conspiracy, furrowed his brow.
He had realized something peculiar.
“What exactly is your group’s true nature?”
At the sudden question, as everyone looked puzzled, Iron Beggar King continued.
“Not to boast, but our Beggar Clan has some prowess in intelligence. Yet your information network surpasses ours beyond comparison. For a faction that’s only emerged in the Central Plains a few years ago, it’s excessive.”
Il-mok swallowed a sigh inwardly. He had somewhat anticipated this.
Agreeing with Iron Beggar King’s question, the others also gazed at Il-mok with doubtful expressions.
Slowly turning his head to scan the room and meet each person’s eyes once. Il-mok then moved his hand to remove the Angry Four Heavenly Kings mask covering his face.
Thud.