Chapter 317 |
Chapter 317
Soul
"Kill them!!"
"Argh..."
The battlefield, filled with chaos, gradually turned in favor of Igongja's side.
As Igongja lost his composure, the elders quickly sent a telepathic message to him.
- First Young Master! Calm down!!
- There are too many enemies!!
It was an inevitable situation. They had just been fighting the heretics, and during the battle, two elders were killed.
The power difference resulting from that was the problem.
- Calm down? Are you telling me to forgive that despicable traitor?!
- No, but you must return alive to the cult to exact revenge on that wicked Second Young Master.
Igongja's face turned red with fury at the elder's telepathic message.
Seeing Igongja, who had suffered internal injuries and retreated, right in front of him but being unable to kill him infuriated him to the core.
"Damn it!!!"
Not being able to kill him in the first strike would remain a regret for a lifetime. If this was the case, he should have returned to the cult and then dealt with him.
After listening to the elder's advice and assessing the battlefield, Igongja's expression darkened.
If this continued, instead of defeating Igongja, he realized he might end up dead.
At that moment, new figures appeared on the chaotic battlefield.
"Attack!!"
They were the heretics who had been fighting them earlier and had fled.
'Why are they showing up now of all times!!'
While already at a disadvantage, the appearance of the heretics made Igongja feel unjustly angry.
"!?'
As if the heavens hadn't abandoned him, the heretics attacked the rear where Igongja's followers were gathered.
"Defend!!"
"Protect Second Young Master!!"
While fighting Igongja's group head-on, dealing with the heretics attacking from behind caused significant damage to Igongja's side.
"This is our chance!!"
Igongja tried to take advantage of the opportunity created by the heretics to kill Igongja, but the elders' telepathic messages again reached his ears.
- You must retreat now!
- If we continue fighting, the heretics will attack us too!
- Retreat? What nonsense is this!!
- If we retreat, Igongja might be killed by the heretics. Even if he survives, he'll suffer great losses, making it easier for us to deal with him later!
As the successor of the Heavenly Demon, choosing to retreat wasn't easy.
However, upon careful consideration, Igongja thought that making the traitor suffer was not a bad option, and retreating seemed acceptable.
- We will retreat carefully to avoid the heretics' attention.
- Yes, sir!
Following Igongja's orders, the elders began to carefully lead their subordinates.
They reformed their lines, pretended to fight Igongja's followers, and slowly retreated.
Slice.
"Ugh..."
Meanwhile, Igongja's followers fell one by one to the heretics.
Leading the slaughter at the forefront were Geum Yang-hwi and Cheong Nae-wang.
Geum Yang-hwi relentlessly unleashed the explosive yang energy of the Explosive Soul Demon Palm with both arms, and Cheong Nae-wang electrified the followers with the thunder energy of the Blue Steel Demon Blade each time he swung his sword.
Thanks to the elders and subordinates' protection, Igongja, who had barely managed to stabilize his internal injuries, spat out the blood he had held in his mouth and muttered.
"Damn it..."
He was furious that Igongja had launched a surprise attack with nonsensical rants, but it didn't matter if he could kill Igongja here.
However, the situation was becoming complicated because of the heretics.
Seeing that the rampaging Igongja was retreating with his subordinates, Igongja had to make a choice.
A choice between one that, even if successful, could completely ruin him, and another that, while not beneficial, could minimize losses.
With no satisfactory options, Igongja, true to his nature, chose the safer option.
"Leave Igongja and deal with the heretics!"
Following his order, those fighting Igongja's group turned to face the heretics.
Boom!!
Especially when the elders of the Hwan family, who were fighting Igongja's elders, joined the battlefield, it wasn't easy for Geum Yang-hwi and Cheong Nae-wang to rampage freely.
While two elders each restrained Geum Yang-hwi and Cheong Nae-wang, the remaining four elders led the subordinates and reformed their lines.
Naturally, as the heretics began to suffer casualties after the initial surprise attack, a gray lightning bolt flashed from beyond the bushes.
Igongja felt an inexplicable sense of deja vu.
It was a technique he had encountered before.
The mysterious martial art that had once overwhelmed even Igongja, who had reached a level comparable to the elders, now struck the demon cultists who were driving the heretics back.
Witnessing this, Igongja's eyes filled with blood.
Even as his subordinates fell, gnashing his teeth, that single strike turned over a dozen followers into charred corpses.
Thus, Igongja, with a face contorted in rage like Igongja's, couldn't help but shout the name of the man who used that technique.
"Ou-yang Pae!!!!"
But Ou-yang Pae, regardless of whether his half-brother called him or not...
Slice!
As he emerged from the bushes, he rushed toward the demon cultists and swung his sword.
However, what appeared as random slashes to the untrained eye were precise and deadly.
No demon cultist could block Ou-yang Pae's seemingly chaotic sword strikes.
As the cultists fell helplessly to Ou-yang Pae's blade, three elders moved to block him.
But even against three elders, Ou-yang Pae showed no signs of being overpowered.
Crackle!
As gray lightning once again emanated from his sword with an ominous sound, the faces of the three elders turned pale, and they quickly leaped away.
Thus, while Ou-yang Pae, Geum Yang-hwi, and Cheong Nae-wang held the elders at bay...
Before they knew it, the figures of the traitors who had attacked the demon cultists began to disappear one by one into the bushes.
As the number of traitors fighting the demon cultists dwindled:
“Haaaap!!”
As if on cue, Ou-yang Pae, Geum Yang-hwi, and Cheong Nae-wang simultaneously unleashed their techniques, driving away the elders.
Whoosh!
Without any hesitation, the three began to flee into the bushes with the traitors.
“Chase them!”
Someone, enraged at the sight of the fleeing enemies, shouted with a furious expression, but...
“Stop!!”
The rough voice of Igongja halted the movement of the cult members.
“Why…?”
The elder, who was about to ask why they weren't chasing the enemies, saw Igongja’s face and fell silent.
Igongja’s eyes were bloodshot, his fists trembling, and blood dripped from his clenched mouth.
He was trying to control his anger so much that he had bitten down too hard, causing his gums to bleed.
Igongja also wanted to catch and kill the traitors who had run amok and escaped.
But his cursed rationality knew very well.
That this battlefield was all too familiar to those enemies.
If they recklessly chased them, the traitors would ambush them from all sides, endlessly harassing them.
Just as they had been up to now.
Moreover, there was something that needed to be dealt with before those traitors.
“We're returning to the church.”
Before the crazed Ilgongja could spread false rumors to the main church, they needed to return first.
* * *
Not long after Igongja and Ilgongja started moving to leave Nanzhao,
Mu-jin and his party approached the traitors hiding and watching the situation from the bushes.
“Have they all gone?”
At Mu-jin’s question, Ou-yang Pae nodded.
“It seems Igongja judged there was nothing to gain by staying here.”
Mu-jin sighed lightly at Ou-yang Pae’s response.
‘So, it’s finally over?’
Considering the initial situation, it felt almost miraculous that they had won so easily.
The difference in numbers was severe, and even Ou-yang Pae had sustained internal injuries.
Moreover, the unexpected variable of So-cheon-ju had been thrown in.
‘It was thanks to Ilgongja and So-cheon-ju stupidly relying only on their strength.’
In addition, the tropical rainforest of Nanzhao was perfect for guerrilla warfare.
‘Is this why the US failed in the Vietnam War?’
Of course, the terrain of Nanzhao was also unfamiliar to Mu-jin’s group, but unlike the demon cult members, Mu-jin had two excellent human detectors.
Mu-jin looked at Mu-gyeong and Mu-yul with a satisfied expression, and Mu-gyeong frowned.
“What are you planning now?”
By now, Mu-gyeong felt a sense of foreboding whenever Mu-jin looked at him.
In contrast, Mu-yul remained cheerful.
“Heheheheh.”
Mu-jin patted the head of the laughing Mu-yul and glared at Mu-gyeong before turning his head.
“What’s the plan now?”
Ou-yang Pae answered Mu-jin’s question.
“Thanks to you, we've bought some time. I plan to focus on gaining strength for a while.”
The recent war had been quite a shock to Ou-yang Pae. Especially due to the internal injuries inflicted by So-cheon-ju in just one move.
But this had turned into a blessing in disguise.
“While recovering from my injuries, I’ve gained insights by reflecting on So-cheon-ju’s martial arts. If I focus on training for a while, I believe I can break through another wall.”
“Didn’t you say you were injured in just one move?”
How could he gain insights from reflecting on something he only experienced once?
Mu-jin couldn’t understand it.
But Ou-yang Pae answered with a rather proud expression.
“Because it was just one move, it’s deeply imprinted in my mind.”
“Ah, I see?”
The thought process of a genius was incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, Geum Yang-hwi, who was listening to their conversation, spoke with concern.
“Young Lord, it’s great that you've gained insights, but won’t the church send a larger force once they learn of our failure?”
“That’s unlikely to happen for a while, thanks to the Shaolin Dragon.”
“???”
Geum Yang-hwi looked confused, so Ou-yang Pae added an explanation.
“Ilgongja now mistakenly believes that Igongja has allied with Shaolin and Wudang. And Igongja was ambushed by Ilgongja. When they return to the church, the two Gongjas will be at odds with each other, involving their maternal families, the Dao and Hwan families. They won't have the time to worry about us for a while.”
Mu-jin nodded in agreement with his explanation.
It was initially planned to use Ilgongja to cause confusion in the demon cult and buy time.
But when Ou-yang Pae continued to speak, Mu-jin found it hard to maintain his expression.
“Moreover, thanks to this event, it’s now much easier for us to return to the church.”
“???”
As Mu-jin wondered what kind of nonsense that was, Ou-yang Pae explained to Geum Yang-hwi.
“Because of this, the relationship between Ilgongja and Igongja, the Dao and Hwan families, has crossed a point of no return. If I can mediate between them, I have a good chance of aiming for the position of the Heavenly Demon. The Dao family would prefer me over Igongja becoming the Heavenly Demon, and the Hwan family would prefer me over Ilgongja.”
When Ou-yang Pae finished explaining, everyone, including Geum Yang-hwi, Cheong Nae-wang, and the traitors, looked at Mu-jin with fear.
They were shocked that such a complex plan had been hidden behind the simple act of sowing discord with the foolish Ilgongja.
But the most shocked person was Mu-jin.
‘Is that how it works?’
Mu-jin had only intended to use Ilgongja to cause confusion and buy time in the demon cult.
He had never thought of such complex schemes.
“Indeed, you are the Shaolin Fist King. I wish our Cheongsu sect would not only focus on martial arts but also learn such strategies.”
The old swordsmen of Wudang, who were listening, looked at Mu-jin with envy and surprise.
“Hahaha. The talents of Cheongsu Dojang are also excellent.”
When Hyun-hyeon proudly looked at Mu-jin with humility, he couldn’t reveal the truth.
“Ahem. Of course, I calculated everything down to the last detail.”