Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Find the Ghost Bow Squad (4)
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“What?! Are you trying to play word games with me right now?”
Jo Baek-ho asked, doubting his own ears.
He snorted in disbelief at the notion of comparing himself, the sole follower of the Black-Clothed Bow King Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad, to the Fifth Heavenly Demon or the First Heavenly Demon.
And it was no wonder. The Fourth Heavenly Demon had eked out a living in hiding without even naming a successor before dying, so to most people, the Fifth Heavenly Demon and the First Heavenly Demon sealed in the Eternal Ice were no different from nonexistent beings.
“I’m not joking. I mean it.”
Even as Jo Baek-ho looked incredulous, Cheok Cheon’s eyes burned with unwavering conviction.
In truth, he truly believed it.
Our cult is not fated to crumble so pathetically.
He had no doubt that an absolute ruler would one day emerge to revive the Demonic Cult if they endured and waited silently.
That was why Cheok Cheon wandered the Central Plains instead of returning to Heavenly Mountain—to encounter the new Heavenly Demon at any moment.
“...Understood for now. With the fierce battle against the Hangsan Sect still ahead, please handle the wrap-up properly.”
Jo Baek-ho nodded with a stiff expression and walked past Cheok Cheon.
And he resolved himself.
If Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad don’t change their minds, I’ll mobilize the full forces of our Great Bow Sect to exterminate them first.
If he couldn’t have them, he would destroy them.
That was the principle of Great Bow Sect Leader Jo Baek-ho.
And the timing was perfect.
He believed there was a solid chance of victory if he struck the weary Ghost Bow Squad, who would be overconfident after crushing his lifelong rival, the Hangsan Sect.
“Don’t worry.”
Cheok Cheon also offered a courteous cupped-fist salute to the departing Jo Baek-ho.
Even after Jo Baek-ho was completely gone, Cheok Cheon’s mind wasn’t at ease.
Has it already been over a decade?
It had been more than ten years since the Fourth Heavenly Demon, fleeing alone to survive, was found as a mangled corpse on some nameless wild mountain.
Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad members had personally confirmed the body upon hearing the news, and since that day, they had wandered the Central Plains like homeless refugees without a homeland.
They had considered returning to Heavenly Mountain, but it had long lost its former glory, overrun by Central Plains folk and Western Region natives.
If they couldn’t restore it as their ancestral land, they would rather not see it at all—that was the resolve of Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad.
Yet no matter how firm the resolve, time had a way of diluting it.
“Captain, you’re back?”
As the Black-Clothed Bow King Cheok Cheon returned, the Ghost Bow Squad members—now fewer than twenty—greeted him.
When Cheok Cheon had been appointed Ghost Bow Squad Leader while serving the Fourth Heavenly Demon, they had all been young and vibrant, but now every one of them had entered middle age.
“Is everyone here? The Hangsan Sect has fallen, and soon we’ll settle on their former grounds and await the Heavenly Demon’s return.”
It was the vague goal they had long pursued.
Now that it was becoming reality, Cheok Cheon reiterated it to his squad once more.
Yet oddly, the Ghost Bow Squad’s response was lukewarm.
“That’s great news.”
Some members were genuinely pleased.
Others voiced stark realities.
“Won’t staying in Hangsan mean we get hunted like before, or deal with killers coming after us again?”
“Captain, we’re sick of running and chasing.”
“We’ve all passed the age of youthful vigor, haven’t we?”
“Above all, if we can’t properly settle, our Ghost Bow Squad—and the traditions and archery of the Heavenly Mountain Yi Clan—will die out without successors.”
That was their concern.
Having lived nomadically for so long, with even the youngest member already in his late thirties nearing forty, they all needed to find heirs now.
“That’s why we take Hangsan...”
Cheok Cheon saw conquering Hangsan as the solution, but his weary subordinates thought differently.
“There’s no guarantee it’ll be safe.”
“Why not stay with the Great Bow Sect longer...”
“That again?!”
Cheok Cheon erupted in fury the moment he grasped what they meant.
His subordinates were reluctant to challenge a new land like Hangsan, seduced by the comforts provided by the Great Bow Sect.
“We’re not saying to submit to them or mix with them.”
“Right. If we stay as esteemed guests and train successors...”
“Fine words.”
“Pardon?”
As Cheok Cheon cut them off sharply, the subordinates advocating for staying with the Great Bow Sect panicked.
“Train successors while staying with the Great Bow Sect? Then whose identity will those heirs have—the Heavenly Mountain Yi Clan and Demonic Cult Ghost Bow Squad, or the Great Bow Sect, one of the Ten Righteous Clans thriving without restraint?”
“Th-that’s!”
No one could refute it.
In truth, that was exactly what the Great Bow Sect aimed for.
Seduce the first generation to settle, then blend the second and third generations into their own.
If they tried to leave, eliminate them without mercy and absorb the lot—that was the goal.
“Even Hangsan isn’t Heavenly Mountain; I already fear we can’t uphold our traditions there. Staying longer is no answer. It’s just fleeing.”
“...”
By labeling it flight first, the optimistic subordinates who suggested staying averted their eyes guiltily.
Then the youngest, most spirited subordinate spoke up.
“Flight? Waiting for a new Heavenly Demon who won’t come—or the First Heavenly Demon, sealed in Eternal Ice or maybe long dead—isn’t that the real flight?”
Jeong Hyeok!”
“Hyeok, watch your tone with the captain!”
The squad members between Cheok Cheon and the youngest Ghost Bow Squad member, Jeong Hyeok, were shocked by his provocative words and glanced between them.
It was the first time Jeong Hyeok had voiced such open discontent, making it all the more startling.
“Wh-what did you say?”
Even Cheok Cheon couldn’t hide his shaken gaze.
“I’m not defying you, Captain. But... if staying with the Great Bow Sect is flight, then waiting for a Heavenly Demon who won’t come— who doesn’t exist—is flight too. I just wanted to point that out.”
“Flight?”
“Yes. If my suggestion is realistic flight, then your chosen flight, Captain, is unrealistic and nonexistent. Am I wrong?”
“Jeong Hyeok!”
Other squad members raised their voices to restrain him at his boldness, but not Cheok Cheon.
Cheok Cheon, locked in verbal sparring with Jeong Hyeok, wasn’t angry at all.
He merely felt regret and gave a wry smile.
“Do you know how the Heavenly Mountain Yi Clan began?”
“Yes. A small mountain tribe persecuted, even enslaved by other Heavenly Mountain tribes.”
“Correct. At the foot of Heavenly Mountain, the Yi Clan were despised slaves. The one who liberated us was... the First Heavenly Demon.”
The Yi Clan’s rise as renowned warriors and archers was surprisingly recent.
The First Heavenly Demon Gunryong had early spotted their potential, and as if answering his expectations, the Ghost Bow Flying King Cheok Dae-yeon appeared right on time.
The extraordinary Cheok Dae-yeon led their liberation, with both he and Gunryong at the center.
“He took us from the brink of extermination and let us breathe the world’s air, see the clear sky, feel the warm sun. We swore eternal loyalty to the Demonic Cult Leader, the Heavenly Demon. Oaths and vows must never break, no matter what. That’s what my father taught me, what my grandfather taught him. You all learned the same, right?”
Cheok Cheon glared with wide eyes.
How could he not want realistic flight?
What had sustained his exhausted self was pure conviction.
“With me, we’re barely twenty in the Ghost Bow Squad—most of the Yi Clan left. If we’re doomed to vanish anyway, I’ll go with my conviction. Any objections?”
No one dared oppose after that.
“Good. We focus solely on subjugating Hangsan!”
Thus, Cheok Cheon barely mended the Ghost Bow Squad’s rift.
Yet uncertainties lingered: conflict with the younger generation, the Great Bow Sect poised to strike anytime.
Amid these dire conditions, Cheok Cheon gripped his horn bow.
I dare not pray for wealth or glory. Just... help me uphold my conviction.
He didn’t pray to heaven or the Supreme Deity.
True to Yi Clan custom, he earnestly wished only to his untainted horn bow.
As if his wish reached his ancestors, things went smoothly thereafter.
The Hangsan Sect’s fierce resistance midway was temporary.
Whenever the Black-Clothed Bow God Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad mobilized, they crushed it effortlessly, filling both Great Bow Sect disciples and Ghost Bow Squad members with rare joy.
Finally, a new home for the Ghost Bow Squad and our Yi Clan in the Central Plains martial world.
The sorrow of homelessness had been unbearable.
Grueling past days flashed by like a lantern show.
Heh heh heh, yes. Revel in your joy. It won’t last long.
Looking down at the jubilant Ghost Bow Squad with sinister eyes, the Secret Blood Bow Go In-pyo smirked faintly.
Before departing, he had received orders from Great Bow Sect Leader, Blood Heaven Bow Fiend Jo Baek-ho.
—Proceed with the hidden grand plan.
But! At the very last moment, ask once more if they’ll return to our sect. If not, proceed as planned.
Jo Baek-ho had repeatedly urged, clearly coveting Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad’s skills.
Go In-pyo hoped Cheok Cheon would uphold his integrity and refuse.
I want to crush you thorns in my side.
Go In-pyo was deeply insecure and burned with jealousy seeing even the Ghost Bow Squad’s youngest outshine him, the Great Bow Sect’s vice leader, in archery.
Thus, he was determined to eliminate them.
“Everyone, good work.”
Go In-pyo, set on his cruel scheme, approached with a smiling face.
It was like honeyed words hiding a blade—sweet on the lips, deadly within.
“Thank you. Then we’ll...”
As Cheok Cheon led the Ghost Bow Squad to leave without mingling, as always.
“I have a special mission for Squad Leader Cheok Cheon and the Ghost Bow Squad. It’s a secret directive from the sect leader himself. Succeed, and the Ghost Bow Sect might claim Hangsan tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”
“A special mission?”
Hearing it came directly from Jo Baek-ho, Cheok Cheon and the squad showed interest.
“Yes. We need a night raid bypassing the Hangsan Sect’s rear. Follow me.”
“Hmm, very well.”
Though uneasy, Cheok Cheon deemed it plausible from Jo Baek-ho and followed.
Today’s forces were several times larger than usual—likely for that reason.
Thus, they trailed Go In-pyo and over a hundred Great Bow Sect disciples.
As they advanced into the desolate, deep terrain for the rugged rear assault.
“Squad Leader Cheok Cheon. Last chance.”
Go In-pyo’s ominous expression since the start turned cruel.
Swoosh!
Beyond the hundred-plus, pre-hidden Great Bow Sect disciples emerged, encircling Cheok Cheon and the entire Ghost Bow Squad.
“V-Vice Leader Go! What is the meaning of this?!”
Stunned by the sudden turn, Cheok Cheon and his squad demanded answers.
“Crawl under our Great Bow Sect. Or else...”
Sneer!
Go In-pyo, who had awaited only this day, grinned in delight.
“...the wretched, homeless Heavenly Mountain Yi Clan ends in extermination today.”
“What?!”
They bristled at the insult to the Ghost Bow Squad and the very soul of the Yi Clan, but the Great Bow Sect’s hidden full force for this moment was formidable.
When did they ambush so many?
Only then did Cheok Cheon regret trusting the Great Bow Sect.
He should have withdrawn sooner, but it was too late.
“Come now, surrender quick...”
As the triumphant Go In-pyo urged with a victor’s smile.
Thud!
Incredibly, Go In-pyo’s head hit the ground and rolled.
A voice followed.
“Who the hell are you to insult the Yi Clan?”
The voice’s owner was, naturally, the First Heavenly Demon Gunryong.