Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Find the Ghost Bow Corps (1)
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Sogang had judged it that way because truly clever people never claimed to be from the Demonic Cult or the Heavenly Demon.
Even though 200 years had passed, casually impersonating the Demonic Cult or the Heavenly Demon carried too great a risk. The descendants or sects who had suffered massive losses at the Demonic Cult's hands would come hunting them down.
And one more thing.
The fake Heavenly Demon and his right-hand man Yang Bi didn't look like people who had properly learned martial arts or even been initiated into a sect.
In other words, outsiders to the martial world pulling off such a stunt meant...
'There must be at least a group that inspired their methods.'
Sogang felt certain as he observed the fake Heavenly Demon, who was all brawn and no brains, and Yang Bi, who was all talk with no substance.
And sure enough.
"How did you know that?"
The fake Heavenly Demon perked up and reacted immediately.
At those words, the Heavenly Demon watched with interest, postponing the execution since it could be done anytime.
"Continue."
"Understood. As we said earlier, we're not survivors of the real Demonic Cult. We're just worthless rabble and con artists. Originally, I was a woodcutter, and this guy Yang Bi over here was a failed scholar from the village who kept flunking the exams."
Under Sogang's urging, the fake Heavenly Demon explained the whole story.
Aaaah!
The slash-and-burn villagers, who had believed without a doubt that the fake Heavenly Demon was the real one, hung their heads in despair.
Who could have guessed that the terrifying monster they feared was actually a woodcutter and a failed scholar?
"Both Yang Bi and I were starving, desperate for a way to survive. A few years ago, we remembered those hermits from our hometown village. Right, Yang Bi?"
The fake Heavenly Demon Mangon called out to his hometown friend Yang Bi.
"That's right. Before we started our scams, there were people living in seclusion in the deepest, most remote forest of our hometown village. They called themselves descendants and survivors of the Demonic Cult, and the naive elders of the village provided them with food and all sorts of conveniences."
That was the origin story of the fake Heavenly Demon Mangon and the fake Loyal Ghost Sword Yang Bi.
"They hid away in the deepest part of the hometown village, taking people's help while staying out of sight. Remembering that, we sold the Demonic Cult's name—and even more, the most feared name of all, Lord Heavenly Demon—to make our way here."
Mangon and Yang Bi had expanded on those memories, wandering around naive slash-and-burn villages, deceiving everyone they encountered.
"Tell me more precisely about them."
The Heavenly Demon intuited that they were definitely connected to the Demonic Cult in a significant way.
"Well... it's already been several years, so..."
Mangon, whose memory wasn't great, was at a loss for more words when...
"Ah! I remember one thing. The ones in black uniforms carried strangely shaped bows slung over their shoulders."
The quick-witted Yang Bi successfully recalled a distant memory.
It was about the bows.
Bows he could never forget, uniquely shaped.
"Bows?"
Sogang asked.
"Yes, definitely! They carried these unique bows made from what looked like horns slung over their shoulders."
"Horn bows for sure!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the Heavenly Demon reacted again.
Horn bows were weapons mainly used by various minority tribes in the Central Plains, not commonly by Central Plains folk.
Moreover, within the Demonic Cult, only a few used horn bows.
"Perhaps... the Ghost Bow Corps or their descendants."
The Heavenly Demon muttered with conviction.
"The Demonic Cult's Ghost Bow Corps!"
"You mean the legendary Ghost Bow Corps said to be worth a hundred men each?"
"The Ghost Bow Corps under Ghost Bow Flying King, one of the Demonic Cult's Five Heavenly Kings!"
Yang Dae-un and Yang Hui-gun also reacted in shock, focusing on the Heavenly Demon's words.
How could the heirs of Ghost Sword Manor not know of the Demonic Cult's Ghost Bow Corps?
The Demonic Cult's Ghost Bow Corps and Ghost Bow Flying King were legends of the era, their fame resounding even relatively recently.
"Yes. My close aides, as near to me as U-ryang or Hui, might be connected to Ghost Bow Flying King Cheok Dae-yeon and the Ghost Bow Corps."
The reason the First Heavenly Demon could dream of conquering the Central Plains wasn't just his own strength.
Following the era's third-ranked Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang and the greatest mind of the time, Demon Eye Thousand Thunder Sima Hui, there were the five absolute powerhouses representing the Demonic Cult's strongest forces.
They were the Demonic Cult's Five Heavenly Kings, and Ghost Bow Flying King Cheok Dae-yeon was a descendant of the Tianshan minority mountain tribe of archers who wielded horn bows.
Cheok Dae-yeon led the Ghost Bow Corps with his tribe, and each archer was worth a hundred men, making them invaluable strategically.
"The backstory is plenty convincing. The Ghost Bow Corps existed right up to the Demonic Cult's final moments of collapse... And though I hate to say it myself, when the incompetent Fourth Heavenly Demon abandoned Tianshan and fled, the force that followed him to the Central Plains and guarded him to the end was the Ghost Bow Corps."
Sogang, who knew Demonic Cult history better than the Heavenly Demon himself, spoke gladly.
In that history, the Fourth Heavenly Demon, cornered beyond escape, had sent the Ghost Bow Corps ahead and fled alone, ultimately abandoning them.
It made perfect logical sense that the abandoned Ghost Bow Corps had retreated to the mountains for survival.
"The likelihood it's the Ghost Bow Corps grows even stronger. Everything you've said so far is the truth, right?"
"Y-yes, absolutely."
"Not a single lie."
Mangon and Yang Bi realized their only path to survival was winning over the young warrior Heavenly Demon Gunryong before them. They dropped to one knee and offered cupped fists.
"So please spare us."
"We beg you."
Yang Bi glanced toward the slash-and-burn village.
The people who had worshipped them like gods had turned out to be not Heavenly Demons but pathetic con artists.
If Gunryong's group just left them be, the enraged villagers would surely inflict severe harm.
Thus, Mangon and Yang Bi desperately tried to curry favor with Gunryong.
"There is one way for you two to survive."
The Heavenly Demon made an immediate decision on the spot.
"What is it?"
He decided to track down the Ghost Bow Corps, who had stayed with the Demonic Cult until its very end.
"Guide us to your hometown village by the shortest route."
The audacious Mangon and Yang Bi, who dared to scam people using the Heavenly Demon and Demonic Cult's names.
Surprisingly, their hometown was Mount Tai, the largest and most vast famous mountain in Shandong Province.
This wasn't just any mountain; to Central Plains folk, it was a holy site. Emperors would come here for the fengshan ceremony, a ritual sacrifice to heaven and earth upon ascension.
Thus, it had countless peaks and hidden ridges, and even large bandit strongholds belonging to the Green Forest on Mount Tai.
"Mount Tai?"
The Heavenly Demon tilted his head at the idea that remnants of the Ghost Bow Flying King's Ghost Bow Corps might be hiding in such a famous place.
"Yes."
"Mount Tai alone has dozens, hundreds of peaks and ridges."
"Our hometown is one of the most obscure ones."
The Heavenly Demon and his group nodded, fully convinced by Mangon and Yang Bi's explanation.
The two guided them comfortably to their hometown village in a desperate bid to survive.
But contrary to expectations...
Swaaaaaang!
Their hometown village had long lost all traces of people, desolate and abandoned.
"Wh-what? Why's no one here?"
"Have all the village elders left?"
In truth, these two had left years ago and were unaware of recent village news.
Slash-and-burn farming relied on soil fertility, so when it was exhausted, the entire village would relocate.
Having been away so long, Mangon and Yang Bi were greatly flustered to find them gone.
"I don't care about others. Guide us to where those horn bow users stayed in the past."
The Heavenly Demon said.
'I didn't expect to encounter the predicted Ghost Bow Corps people here anyway.'
Since they spoke of years ago, they had likely left long before.
Still, the Heavenly Demon sought their traces for a reason.
"Understood."
"The deepest forest and valley from the village."
Mangon and Yang Bi racked their memories of the past and guided them repeatedly there.
The terrain was so deep and rugged that even the two, returning home after years, panted heavily.
Yet the Heavenly Demon, Yang Dae-un, Yang Hui-gun, and the others showed no sign of labored breathing.
Huff, huff!
The only one in the Heavenly Demon's group panting from exhaustion was a single person.
The storyteller Sogang, who hadn't properly learned martial arts.
"This little brother here fits right in with us."
"No wonder he caught my eye from the start."
Mangon and Yang Bi, panting like themselves, showed fondness toward Sogang, the only one displaying human frailty, and acted friendly.
After pushing so deep, they finally reached the highest, deepest mountain valley in the two's hometown.
"This is it."
"Definitely this place. They mostly hid in that cave over there, and when bored or training, they'd shoot arrows at trees... Ah! Here's a mark!"
Mangon and Yang Bi acted desperately to survive, and their efforts bore fruit.
Nearby, they found the cave where the self-proclaimed Demonic Cult members had lived, and even clear arrow marks embedded in a nearby tree.
This proved at least that the two weren't lying, so Mangon and Yang Bi sighed in relief.
"Let me see."
Seeing traces of bows and arrows fired, the Heavenly Demon perked up with curiosity.
There was a reason for his reaction.
'Ghost Bow Flying King Cheok Dae-yeon and his Ghost Bow Corps members always left unique traces when shooting arrows.'
It stemmed from the Tianshan mountain tribe's unique archery and internal arts, like a signature mark.
The mark was a long black shadow trailing from where the arrow hit, as if stretched out—and there it was!
"...!!"
After searching, the Heavenly Demon found the desired trace and smiled gladly.
"Lord Heavenly Demon. What is it?"
"Is it the Ghost Bow Corps' trace?"
As their lord and leader, how could he not recognize it?
"Without a doubt. This trace is surely... the Ghost Bow Corps'."
The Ghost Bow Corps warriors, said to have vanished without a trace alongside the Demonic Cult's fall into obscurity.
This was the moment their legend awakened anew.