Chapter 386: Destruction (1)
When Yeon Buso, the next warrior of the Forces of Justice and the eldest son of the Yulin clan’s leader, got suppressed with overwhelming power, the warriors of the Peng family surrendered without any resistance.
Of course, it was because they knew that Peng-gyu wouldn’t want any unnecessary sacrifices.
‘…. Even if they try, our side will only end up with a lot of injured or dead people.’
He was blinded by his own ambition and set his goal way too high. It wasn‘t even remotely realistic to reach that goal, but the moment he faced reality, he already lost something important.
‘How could such a monster even be among us…’
Never would have anyone thought that a Supreme Master level warrior would be defeated that fast.
It was as if the difference between them was like a skilled warrior and a low-ranked warrior.
If it weren’t for the skills Yeon Buso displayed, that was what it would have looked like.
‘Does the difference between people grow with each step into the next level?’
Scary.
Just one level higher, but said level was indescribably high. The difference in power was way too vast.
It had to take a few years or decades for one to go from Superior to Supreme master level.
‘How could he grow this much in a couple of months?’
Elder Cheong-su had desperately tried to stop them, but not a single leader, not even the Great Leader, had listened to his words, and now they were all learning the truth the hard way.
‘Ah…!!!’
He suddenly remembered the bet he placed with Elder Cheong-su before leaving for the palace.
They promised one arm to the other, and if Peng-gyu got released, then he was in danger of losing his other arm too.
His desire to negotiate with the emperor and give success to the Forces of Justice watered down.
Meanwhile, the front yard of the temple was nearly filled with hundreds of prisoners.
Around 40 people of the Peng family, and 50 or so women from the Soorim temple and also teachers in the temple, all on the ground looking down in fear.
That was when Hu Bong, who was on the top step of the main hall, spoke.
“Lord, we didn’t kill any of them, but we did hurt the two leaders and the son of the Great Leader, this might not be in our favor, right?”
The warning given by Yeon Buso ran through Hu Bong’s head.
From the point of view of Yulin, as if it wasn’t enough to change the State Religion, the Demonic Cult even cut the arms of their leaders.
Ko w.a.n.ghur, who was next to him, answered.
“Hahaha, don’t worry, Hu Bong. Nothing of that sort will happen at the moment.”
“Moment?”
“This is an alliance that was formed to deal with the Blade G.o.d Six Martial clan, but if the alliance gets broken up, it will go back to a four way war and not a three way war. How could the alliance break that easily? It was just Yeon Buso’s tactic to get out of here safely without any more sacrifices.”
Chun Yeowun nodded his head in agreement with Ko w.a.n.ghur’s words.
The reason for the alliance wasn’t peace.
“Phew, I guess I was worried over nothing.”
“With your personality, it would be weird if you weren’t concerned about it. however, with the Forces of Evil in the west, Blade G.o.d Six Martial clan in the east and us in the south, they wouldn’t dare to do such a thing.”
As they knew, if the alliance broke down, the Yulin would end up getting surrounded by the enemies from the east, west and south, so they were bound to end up dead.
The Yulin would do anything to avoid that.
“I wonder how they would react if they knew what happened here. Hehehe.”
So far, the Forces of Justice didn’t know what was happening.
They simply hoped that their leaders would persuade the emperor successfully.
“Lord, what are we going to do with them?”
Ko w.a.n.ghur asked, pointing to the prisoners who had been tied up with ropes.
There was no way that they could keep these people here forever.
“We should send them back, excluding Yeon Buso and the other leaders.”
If it wasn’t for the alliance, Chun Yeowun would have killed them since their actions were sufficient enough to do so, however it wasn’t desirable to make an enemy out of Yulin at the moment.
“Then I will take them over to their base and deliver the message of the Lord!”
Ko w.a.n.ghur was confident.
Taking over the prisoners to the main base of Yulin would definitely incur their wrath upon him, yet, Ko w.a.n.ghur boldly took up the task.
“No, you don’t have to.”
Chun Yeowun shook his head.
Looking at the prisoners who were tied down, he spoke.
“Put a letter in their hands and send them off, that should be more than enough.”
With Yeon Buso and the two leaders in the cult’s hands, no one would dare act recklessly, but Chun Yeowun didn’t want to take a chance.
If the Yulin were too furious, they would end up holding Ko w.a.n.ghur as a hostage and request an exchange.
“Tch, understood.”
Disappointed that he wasn’t given the task, Ko w.a.n.ghur clicked his tongue.
Compared to the other Six Swords, this was supposed to be his first huge appearance, so he wanted to be of more use.
Unlike him, Hu Bong laughed and said,
“With this incident, the entire Wulin will know about the power of our Lord. Hurray! Maybe the Lord will be given some kind of t.i.tle or name?”
Until then, Chun Yeowun wasn’t known to anyone other than the Demonic Cult.
However, with this, the fact that he overpowered three leaders of the Forces of Justice will be known, maybe there was a chance for a special t.i.tle.
For any warriors in the Wulin, a t.i.tle meant a rise in their reputation.
“I’m looking forward to it, hehe.”
Three days later,
The prisoners of war who were captured by the Demonic Cult returned back.
Not only the head of the Peng family, Peng-gyu, but also the swordswoman of Soorin mountain and Yeon Buso, the son of the Great Leader, had gone to the palace for a chance to redeem themselves.
The Great Leader and three other leaders had received the reports from Oh Hye of Hangsan clan and Peng Yeo-sik, lieutenant of the Peng family.
“Huh. How could this happen… Amitabha.”
Amba.s.sador of the Soorim temple, 2nd leader Gak-yeon, was memorizing sutras with a serious expression.
It was because this was something that no one had predicted.
Who would have imagined that three leaders would end up getting turned into hostages?
“Is that really true?”
6th leader, Elder Poong Chungwun of the Forces of Justice, asked Oh Seon, a member of the Hangsan clan, in complete disbelief.
They did understand that the power of Chun Yeowun had increased, but they didn’t expect it to reach such a level.
“It is the truth. Even leader Yeon was no match for him.”
Oh Seon remembered the confrontation which took place at that time.
The expressions on the faces of the leaders went sour as they kept on listening.
The more they heard about the confrontation, the closer it seemed like a one-sided attack.
‘Did he just steal the Air Swords and use them for his own attack?’
‘No, that can’t be possible, right?’
This skill, which is known to be something that only the Supreme Masters could use, was the Air Sword.
It was a level that only the five strongest warriors, who were currently known as the highly skilled ones of the Yulin, could do, but to disable the Air Swords meant that the opponent was of a much higher level than them.
“W… were Elder Cheong-su’s words really true?”
A story which no one was ready to believe at that time.
Anyone who learnt martial arts would be aware of it.
There were a lot of people who couldn’t climb to the Supreme Master level even if they practiced their whole life.
Moreover, those who reached the Supreme Master level were only very few remarkable and known individuals. They could be counted on one’s fingers.
And not a single person in Yulin who reached the Supreme Master level had climbed into the Divine Master level.
‘Does that mean that he is almost like a G.o.d now?’
All one could think of was that this person was chosen by the heavens.
Poong Chungwun, who had been in shock for a while, asked the Peng family’s warriors.
“By the way, what is it that you are wearing on your back?”
“Ah!”
At that question, the man’s expression darkened.
It was more difficult than talking about what had happened in the Imperial palace.
“… There’s something inside? Open it.”
At that time, a middle-aged man, who hadn’t changed his expression like the other leaders, opened his mouth for the first time in the meeting.
‘Ah! 3rd leader.’
A man with thick eyebrows and dressed in luxurious blue silk. He was Nam Gung-kyong, the head of the Nam Gung family, a famous swordsman.
‘So he was here too.’
It was only natural for the warriors of Peng to be scared.
Nam Gung-kyong, the eastern commander, was in charge of the battlefield in case the Blade G.o.d Six Martial clan crossed their borders. He is the 3rd leader.
No one thought that he would come over from his position and attend the meeting.
“Do as the 3rd leader said.”
Poong Chungwun also nodded his head in agreement.
After hesitating for a while, the warriors spoke.
“Actually, the Lord of Demonic cult has asked me to deliver this wooden box to the leaders.”
“The Lord of Demonic Cult?”
“Y-yes.”
The words „Lord of Demonic Cult“ garnered everyone’s attention.
He untied the wooden box he was holding on his back and put it down in front of the Great Leader, Yi Mok’s seat.
And when the lid of the wooden box was opened, the faces of the men who watched its content hardened.
Shockingly, there were three severed arms inside the wooden box.
“Wh-what is this!”
The leaders, who just heard what happened in the Imperial Palace, couldn’t possibly not know whose arms they belonged to.
It was clear that the arm in a grey monk’s robe belonged to Monk Sathi, and the well-musculary developed arm belonged to Peng-gyu. The last one, with the white sleeve, belonged to Yeon Buso.
Bang!
Everyone’s eyes turned when a huge sound roared from one’s seat.
With eyes clearly in anger, those furious eyes belonged to the Great Leader of the Forces of Justice, who had never lost his cool so far.
‘He is angry.’
It was only natural for him to be angry, he just saw his son’s severed arm.
Wheeeing!
“Ah!”
The severed arm in the white robe inside the wooden box floated in the air and got pulled in by Yi Mok.
His eyes trembled in anger as he looked at his son’s severed arm.
‘Lord… of…the… Demonic… Cult.’
His heart, which was like a calm lake, was raging.
Never once did the former leader, Chun Yeojung, ever make him this angry.
‘Is this because the Lord of Demonic Cult thinks that I can’t break the alliance?! How dare he test me!!’
Sending only a severed arm was like provoking and ridiculing the entire Yulin.
But then, something caught his angry eyes.
‘This is?’
The severed arm was clenched in a fist, and something was inside it.
He tried to open it, but the hand was clenched too tightly for him to open.
‘Hmm.’
When Yi Mok began to inject energy into the wrist of the severed arm, the stiff fingers finally stretched out, revealing it.
Folded very tightly, something was written on a paper.
‘No way… this can’t be?’
It was strange.
Why did he have to make the paper invisible even after placing it in the fist?
Judging that it was something important, he carefully looked at it while making sure that the others didn’t know about this message.
As he read the contents in her, Yi Mok’s expression changed.
‘!?’
Unaware of this, the leaders were having a serious conversation among themselves.
6th leader Poong Chungwun shook his head, not understanding anything, and spoke to 2nd leader Guk-yeong.
“What do you think this means, monk?”
“… I, this looks like a warning. The former Lord of the Demonic Cult was known to be a dangerous person, but this Lord is…”
There was no need to continue.
This act was a warning and provocation.
It was as if they were being told that anyone who would get involved in the matter of the State Religion’s change will not be tolerated.
“I never thought that this is how things would turn out. Amitabha!”
They didn’t know how the Lord of Demonic Cult would react, yet there was no room to protest as they themselves had sent Yeon Buso and the others to the palace.
Moreover, it was the Yulin who would lose a lot if the alliance was to be broken.
‘Uhmm. It doesn’t seem like this is the only issue.’
No one spoke, but the Lord of Demonic Cult and his people looked much more dangerous than the Blade G.o.d Six Martial clan.
“This puts us in a bind.”
Not being able to hide his frustration, Poong Chungwun shook his head.
Tak!
At that moment, Yi Mok put down the severed arm of Yeon Buso and after reading the contents of the paper, he spoke to the leaders.
“I am putting forth a proposal.”
“Proposal?”
To the bewildered leaders, the Great Leader spoke in a low yet confident voice.
“A proposal to break the alliance with the Demonic Cult.”