Chapter 1582
Then who the hell are they? (2)
Something was wrong.
It was at that moment that Beop Gye noticed.
He saw Paeng family and Kongtong Sect advancing ahead of Shaolin.
Beop Gye’s face hardened.
‘This isn’t right.’
This battlefield was chosen by them. They had already agreed on how to fight against Sapaeryeon before they reached this place.
Shaolin would take the lead, clearing the path, while Kongtong and Paeng would support the flanks. This would naturally form a wedge formation to penetrate the enemy’s center.
It was a simple but sure strategy, one that relied on the strength of Shaolin.
But now, Beop Gye could see clearly.
According to the strategy, the two sects should be supporting Shaolin from behind, blocking attacks from the sides and rear.
However, they were now moving ahead of Shaolin.
Could it be that they had lost control in such a short time? Or had they too succumbed to this madness?
These were the head of a family and the Sect Leader of a sect.
Shaolin at the front had to desperately manage their speed and timing, but those following just had to match Shaolin’s pace. It wasn’t difficult.
So why were they ahead? Why!
“Do not falter, Beop Gye!”
At that moment, a thunderous voice rang in his ears. When he turned, he saw Beop Jong’s deeply sunken eyes.
“Abbot!”
“Advance! Nothing changes!”
Beop Gye bit his lower lip.
Advance. If that was Beop Jong’s command, then Beop Gye only had to follow.
“Ooooooo!”
Beop Gye let out a powerful lion’s roar.
Nothing changes. Yes, nothing changes. Beop Jong had said so.
But Beop Gye knew deep down. That ‘nothing changes’ held more than one meaning.
Beop Gye’s face hardened fiercely.
Nothing changes.
It was Shaolin who would take Jang Ilso’s head. It was Shaolin who would end this war.
So at the war’s end, it would be Shaolin who would seize the brilliant glory and re-establish the order of Gangho under the name of Buddhism!
Nothing will change. No, he won’t let anything change.
Woooooooong!
The Thousand Buddha Hands, symbolic of Beop Gye, were deployed with overwhelming intensity.
The sky, which had been rapidly darkening after the sunset, was now covered with the shadows of the golden palms.
“Haaaaaap!”
Those numerous palm shadows swept away all the cumbersome obstacles in front of Beop Gye at once.
The hands of the Buddha, devoid of mercy, were the most terrifying. The enemies hit by the palm force spewed blood from all their orifices and were thrown away.
No one here could maintain their sanity. The heat was that intense. However, Beop Jong’s eyes, who had incited this situation, remained exceptionally heavy and cold. His gaze was fixed ahead, on Jongli Hyeong and Paeng Yeop, who were frantically cutting down the enemies in front of them.
‘How foolish.’
A brief flash of anger passed through Beop Jong’s eyes. He could clearly see what was controlling those two. Petty ambition, and petty inferiority. Was this war something that could be swayed by such trivialities?
“A-mi-ta-bha!”
Beop Jong, shouting the Buddha’s name with fierce anger, glared coldly at Jang Ilso.
Nothing will change. This is not a situation precarious enough to be shaken by trivial variables. The noose Beop Jong had thrown with patience upon endurance would eventually ensnare the beast called Paegun and sever his neck.
“Follow me, Shaolin!”
Beop Jong broke the silence and began to move in earnest.
“Amitabha!”
“Follow the Abbot!”
The disciples of Shaolin, emboldened, followed Beop Jong. The golden army, like the spear of the heavenly gods, flew aiming for just one person’s neck. No, it wasn’t just one spear. The three spears of Shaolin, Kongtong, and Paeng mercilessly pierced the beast known as Sapyeoryeon.
The cries of the bleeding beast, writhing in pain, echoed across the desolate land.
“Don’t fall behind! Advance! Keep advancing! More!”
Jongli Hyeong, the Sect Leader of Kongtong, shouted fiercely. Shaolin seemed to have realized something and was increasing their speed.
At this rate, Kongtong would inevitably lag behind – they needed to reach Jang Ilso before Shaolin gained full momentum.
“Faster…”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
At that moment, a piercing scream reached their ears. It was a sound different from anything they had heard until now.
Instinctively turning his head, Jongli Hyeong saw one of Kongtong’s disciples, clad in their uniform, collapsing while spraying blood.
“Gwan Myeong!”
Jongli Hyeong unconsciously cried out his disciple’s name. It was an inevitable, predetermined outcome. Those who only press forward cannot look to the side, nor can they look back. Trying to observe everything and gain everything is excessive greed.
If you don’t want to spill blood, you must stop. You have to give up what you seek and protect your disciples.
“Aaaaaaah!”
Another desperate scream rang out, and Jongli Hyeong’s face turned pale for a moment. It was a sign of his agony.
Move forward, or protect.
The anguish of someone trying to grasp two incompatible things.
Must he really stop here? At this place?
The hesitation didn’t last long. No, it couldn’t.
Because he saw it.
Paeng Yeop, the Lord of Hubei Paeng family, abandoning his bleeding subordinates and only moving forward.
Blood vessels popped in Jongli Hyeong’s eyes. He had already lost a disciple. If he stopped now, wouldn’t that mean his dying disciple’s sacrifice was in vain?
“Sect Leader! Behind…!”
“Advance!”
Jongli Hyeong shouted without listening further, his voice filled with uncharacteristic rage.
“Move forward! The moment you stop, everything is over! Advance!”
A fired arrow cannot stop or turn back. It only accelerates, hoping to reach the target.
What started as a small desire might not be the same now. Like a wildfire, that desire had begun to consume not only Jongli Hyeong but also Kongtong.
The fire of desire [욕화(慾火)].
Blinded by the light of glory, they didn’t realize that a fiercer flame was burning them more intensely than the light they were chasing.
A faint tension crossed Ho Gamyeong’s face as he looked ahead.
The momentum they were generating was storm-like, enough to make even Ho Gamyeong tense. The pressure was so immense it felt like it was crushing his heart.
‘Was it always this intense?’
Perhaps he had been arrogant. Maybe he had complacently believed that the easy victories he had achieved so far would continue.
Ho Gamyeong, who had always been vigilant against his own overconfidence.
Facing them like this, he realized that the power of Gupailbang was beyond his imagination. It was terrifying to confront them head-on.
The army of Maninbang, which he had painstakingly built, and Maninbang’s warriors he had crafted with his own hands, were melting away like snow in the spring sun.
The three blazing spears were rushing towards them.
‘Ryeonju!’
Naturally, Ho Gamyeong worried about Jang Ilso’s state of mind. Just because he stood there so calmly, did it mean he was calm inside?
At that moment, when Ho Gamyeong was about to say something to Jang Ilso.
“Ha… Haha…”
A faint laugh escaped from Jang Ilso. It was an awkward laugh, as if he had forced it out despite experiencing turmoil.
“Ryeonju…”
“Haha… Ha. Hahahahahaha! Aahahahaahaha!”
Finally, Jang Ilso opened his mouth wide and burst into a tremendous mad laugh. Ho Gamyeong could only stare wide-eyed at his lord.
Jang Ilso’s usual laughter was eerie enough to send chills down one’s spine, but this mad laugh was beyond comparison.
Jang Ilso was… laughing as if he had gone mad.
“Ryeo…”
Suddenly, Jang Ilso reached out with his large hand and grabbed the back of Ho Gamyeong’s head. With irresistible strength, he pulled Ho Gamyeong close to his side.
Fixing Ho Gamyeong’s gaze on the battlefield, Jang Ilso whispered in his ear.
“Do you see?”
“Ryeonju?”
“I said, do you see!”
Ho Gamyeong, now slightly pale, tried to look back at Jang Ilso, but Jang Ilso’s fingers, gripping his head, didn’t allow him to move.
“Hahahahaha! Look, Gamyeong! It’s right there! Right over there!”
Madness swirled in Jang Ilso’s eyes.
“Even those pretentious monks! Those noble families who strutted like kings! Even those Taoists who acted as if they had no attachments to the mortal world are all rolling in the mud! They’ve all cast aside their grand dignity!”
Ho Gamyeong looked at the scene unfolding before him again. Indeed.
It was Avici Hell. This was, literally, Avici Hell.
Those who preached the Buddhist law were trampling people, those who discussed morals were stabbing hearts with swords, and those who claimed to value detachment were swinging swords with eyes burning with desire.
What shone in their eyes was neither nobility nor a sense of justice.
“Do you see the flames of their base desires, Gamyeong-ah? Hahahaha! Ahahahahahahahaha!”
Jang Ilso laughed like a madman, as if he couldn’t contain his joy at the sight before him.
Even Ho Gamyeong, who had followed Jang Ilso for so many years, felt distant from him at this moment. He was overwhelmed by the emotion that even the word “madness” couldn’t fully describe.
“This is what humans are! The beast called a human being! Strip away one layer and throw something tempting in front of them, and every single one of them will pounce on it like a dog in heat, unable to suppress their true nature!”
“Ryeonju!”
“Don’t turn your head! Look closely!”
Jang Ilso’s grip on Ho Gamyeong’s head tightened to the point of being painful.
In that moment, Ho Gamyeong saw it.
In the deepening darkness, the eyes of those who couldn’t control their desires gleamed like countless stars in the sky. It was a wonderful yet utterly revolting sight.
The hungry ghosts lunging at Jang Ilso as if they would tear his flesh apart.
The world Ho Gamyeong knew was shaking. The unveiled reality of humans, more blatant and horrifying than he had ever imagined.
Was this the world Jang Ilso saw?
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Ryeonju…”
Finally given the freedom to turn his head, Ho Gamyeong looked away.
Jang Ilso’s face, half-hidden in the darkness, was highlighted by his curved, red lips. Those lips looked like the moon, making Jang Ilso himself seem like the sky.
“Here!”
At that moment, an overwhelming voice filled with immense internal power burst from Jang Ilso’s mouth.
As he gathered his formidable energy, his red robe flapped wildly as if struck by a typhoon.
“I am right here, it is me!”
Jang Ilso stepped forward. Instead of retreating, he advanced toward the hungry ghosts rushing at him with screams and curses.
“Aaaaaah!”
Those who saw the scene screamed and shouted in turmoil. Their mingled cries created a horrific noise that seemed out of this world.
With eyes burning blue with the fire of desire, they clung to Jang Ilso, yearning for him like a mass of pure desires.
“Hahahaha! Ahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaha!”
Jang Ilso threw his head back and laughed until his throat hurt. He laughed so hard that tears welled up in his glistening eyes.
Darkness had nearly fallen. Watching the scene softly, Jang Ilso took a long breath and spoke slowly, with a different tone than before.
“Yes. It is this ugly.”
It was a monologue, words that no one could hear.
But it was clearly addressed to someone.
“This much, indeed…”
Finally, blue flames as cold as ice flared up in Jang Ilso’s hands.
Clad in the blue flames [청염(靑炎)] that symbolized him, Jang Ilso lowered his gaze to the charging hungry ghosts.
“And I am no different from any other human.”
A chill as cold as his flames was reflected in his eyes. At the same time, the blue flames in his hands swelled fiercely.
The red robe and blue flames formed a bizarre harmony that couldn’t be seen anywhere else in the world.
“So let us struggle together. Right here.”
With a sneer, Jang Ilso flapped his robe and rushed toward those charging at him.
“Ryeonjuuuuu!”
Ho Gamyeong screamed at the unexpected action.
But his scream was drowned out by Jang Ilso’s wild laughter that erupted at the same time.
The sunset that had been coloring the western sky was finally swallowed completely by darkness, leaving only the mocking moon above.
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