“Chief Elder Go… I have no words to say, even if I had ten mouths. I have failed to complete the mission, so I will gladly accept the punishment of death…”

Chief Jang, who had failed to lead the battle to victory, prostrated himself before Go Eung with a miserable heart and bowed his head.

He had not thought from the beginning that he could annihilate the allied forces with just blood zombies and a small number of demonic beasts.

From the Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance to Master Gong-seung, who was said to be the strongest master of the Orthodox Path, and the main figures of the Eight Great Families had participated, and the forces of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were two battalions and six monks of the Heavenly Demon Sacred Hall, and the late-stage masters of the Orthodox Path numbered in the hundreds.

How could he break them easily…

But that could not be an excuse for failure.

If it had been an even fight, it would be a different story.

While he had not been able to greatly disrupt the enemy’s forces, the number of blood zombies and demonic beasts had been significantly reduced.

In a word, the battle had ended in a great defeat.

“Chief Jang… I have no intention of blaming you. I am just surprised that I did not know that their strength was that great.”

“Chief Elder Go…”

“This is a big problem. More than anything else, the old man from Goryeo and the monks of the Heavenly Demon Sacred Hall are the problem. If they can control the demonic aura of the Great Human-Faced Spider with their spells, doesn’t that mean that their magical power is not inferior to that of our cult’s strongest sorcerers?”

A look of worry was clearly engraved on the face of the Left Heavenly Demonic Path, Go Eung.

‘Brother No… did you really meet with a misfortune? How can there be no news at a time like this!’

He thought of his sworn brother, the Rain and Heaven Demonic Sword, No Yeong-myeong.

The martial arts of his sworn brother, which were not lacking to embrace the world, and the spell that could handle his abilities.

If the commander of this operation had been his sworn brother, not Chief Jang, would he have been so easily defeated…

‘I…’

Judging from the fact that there was still no letter or news, his sworn brother must have met with a great misfortune.

A person who had ruled the martial world with him for his entire life.

With the ambition to swallow the world, he had volunteered to become the trusted subordinate of the Blood Demon, and after great effort, he had thought that he would be able to complete the grand plan…

‘It’s that brat! Everything started to go wrong after that brat started to act up!!’

A person came to Go Eung’s mind.

“Jin So-ah…”

When he thought of him, he naturally ground his teeth.

The incident of seven years ago.

When his sworn brother, No Yeong-myeong, had headed to Liaoning, saying that he would kill a 15-year-old boy.

Also, when he had failed to kill him in the end and had committed the folly of exposing his identity to the Orthodox Path while losing an eye.

At that time, Go Eung had not understood his sworn brother.

Why he was so obsessed with such a brat.

And how he had failed to properly kill that brat.

‘I was foolish. Brother No was right. At that time, when Brother No tried to kill that brat again, I should not have stopped him!’

There are times like that.

A time when you realize that what you thought was right at the time was a bad move when you look back on it after time has passed.

That was how Go Eung was at the moment.

But as always, regret is something that cannot be undone.

“Chief Elder Go… with all due respect, I believe that the magical power of the old man from Goryeo is different from what the elder thinks.”

“Different…?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard that his spell is on par with that of the Vice-Leader. Do you mean that his magical power is weaker than I thought?”

Go Eung, who felt a doubt, asked.

An unexpected one sentence flowed from Chief Jang’s mouth.

“It’s the opposite…”

“What do you mean?”

“That old man’s spell is far superior to that of our cult’s sorcerers. He burst a dazzling light that adorned the sky with a mid-level talisman, and the demonic beasts that were touched by it disappeared without a trace. It was the first time in my life that I had seen such a strange and mysterious spell.”

“Hah…!”

Chief Jang’s report came to Go Eung as one mountain after another.

Although he had been vigilant about Baek In-hwa from the beginning, judging from what Chief Jang was saying, Baek In-hwa’s magical power must be beyond imagination…

‘Now it has really become irreversible.’

But.

…he could not just sit back and wait for the enemy’s invasion.

At least, until the Cult Leader arrived.

…because Go Eung had to defend the Gansu cult branch…

“Chief Jang.”

“Yes, Chief Elder Go.”

“We must form a special task force and continuously harass the allied forces. I’m not saying to have an all-out war. I’m saying to bite at their gaps, dig into their wounds, and weaken their mobility, and to disperse their forces. Do you understand?”

“I will do my best, risking my subordinate’s life.”

“Also. From now on, form a great demonic blood formation around the Gansu cult branch.”

“A… a great demonic blood formation, you say?”

“It doesn’t matter how many human sacrifices are used. Kidnap them as they come, regardless of gender or age, and use them as sacrifices for the great demonic blood formation.”

At the stern command of the Left Heavenly Demonic Path, Go Eung, Chief Jang’s liver turned cold.

Go Eung was a cautious person in all matters.

At least, when it came to human sacrifice, he had always taken a conservative stance.

Of course, it was not that Go Eung’s character was more virtuous than that of the Blood Demon or No Yeong-myeong, and that he felt guilty about human sacrifice.

It was just that he was worried that if the act of kidnapping civilians was overused, a risk factor would surely arise.

‘Now is not the time to be picky… if we can’t stop them, there will be no future.’

Go Eung clenched his right fist tightly.

“I obey! I will do so.”

Chief Jang’s voice came out with a great deal of determination.

***

—The fracture of the lady is serious. At this rate, she will never be able to fight, so it would be better to go down the mountain and get treatment.

—Your heart and pulse injury is not minor, so you cannot participate in the battle. As expected, you will have to go down the mountain.

—Young Hero Kang’s external injury, at a glance, seems deep, but since all the stab wounds have missed the blood vessels, the bleeding was small. If you apply golden sore medicine and take a decoction, you will see an improvement in a day, so it is fine to continue the march.

The martial artists of the Sichuan Tang family, including Tang Il-gi and Tang Hwa-rin, were busy treating the injured of the allied forces.

Although they had won a great victory in the life-and-death battle with the demonic beasts, the number of injured was beyond their expectations.

Especially, because of the poison on the claws of the blood zombies, there were many cases of external injuries and skin lesions, but fortunately, since the Sichuan Tang family were experts in poison, they did not have much difficulty in treatment.

Just then.

The sight of Baek In-hwa laying down the martial artists with severe bruises and performing acupuncture (the act of placing needles) caught the attention of the people of the Tang family.

‘Sect Leader Baek is a person who has a considerable high opinion of medicine as well!’

‘Looking at his acupuncture, it’s not an ordinary medical skill… such a sophisticated acupuncture would be hard for even an active doctor to perform easily.’

The people of the Tang family clicked their tongues at Baek In-hwa’s acupuncture.

Usually, acupuncture was divided into a method of directly applying needles to the affected area and a method of indirectly exerting an effect by taking a specific blood point, but Baek In-hwa was using both methods to perform acupuncture.

“Sect Leader Baek. Were you also proficient in medicine? Not only do you have amazing spells and earth-shattering martial arts, but your knowledge is also great, and even medicine… you are truly an astonishing person the more I know you, hohoho.”

“Once again, I don’t know how reassuring it is that a person like Sect Leader Baek is on our side.”

“You are truly a strange person, kehkehkeh!”

The leadership figures, such as Abbess Hongryeon, who were showing various performances all over the place, began to praise Baek In-hwa in unison.

At that, Baek In-hwa waved his hand with an embarrassed expression.

“You praise me too much. It is just a shallow skill. And the fact that this old man has become a helper is largely due to So-ah’s achievement. If I had not met So-ah in the North Sea and had not accompanied him, I would not have been able to make contact with the Central Plains martial world so quickly.”

At Baek In-hwa’s words, people nodded with a satisfied face.

As expected, it was So-ah again this time.

Thus, So-ah was influencing all parts of the current martial world.

Leaving aside the martial arts of the person named So-ah.

…his decisiveness, his ability to act, his drive, his intelligence, and even his foresight to see the future.

Considering his young age, So-ah had risen to be a greater existence than his master, Moyong Cheon.

‘So-ah has now clearly become the most outstanding person in the entire martial world, the greatest hero, and the strongest person. Elder God of War. Are you watching from the immortal world? Our So-ah has grown up so wonderfully. Perhaps So-ah will place the Moyong family on a rock. Hohoho!’

The gaze of Abbess Hongryeon, who was having such thoughts, was directed at the sky.

Although a battle with swords and blood had been raging just a few shichen ago, the sky that came into her sight now was endlessly blue and clear.

Today, Abbess Hongryeon, who was particularly missing the God of War, Moyong Cheon, who had been her long-time friend and an object of her admiration.

***

—Brother Woo-chi! Run, run! No! Fly, fly!

—Is this all you can fly? I’m disappointed??

—Aww! Just let me down. I’m disappointed, brother.

Jeon Woo-chi was deeply troubled by the desire to give So-ah a flick on the head.

He knew he was in a hurry.

Since there were many things to take care of, and the date of joining the vanguard was later than expected, it was natural to be impatient.

But.

…that did not justify the nagging and the scolding.

So-ah, as if he thought of Jeon Woo-chi as a horse he had bought with money, was constantly whining, saying ‘let’s go faster’, ‘raise your magical power’, or ‘just let me down’.

“Hey, Jin So-ah! If you nag me one more time, I’ll really just drop you and go alone!”

In the end, Jeon Woo-chi could not hold it in and growled.

At that,

“Aww! I was just joking because I like you, brother. Why are you like that?”

…as expected, So-ah showed his meticulousness by saying that it was just a joke and, on the contrary, by making Jeon Woo-chi a narrow-minded person.

‘Phew! I shouldn’t have said anything, I shouldn’t have said anything. If I argue with that brat, I’ll only be at a loss.’

Jeon Woo-chi just shut his mouth.

Among the foundations that made up the person named Jin So-ah, if martial arts were 30%, another 30% was the ability to smell money, and the last 40% was his eloquence.

He would rather have a good fight, but he had no way of winning against that smooth-talking eloquent speaker with his mouth, so Jeon Woo-chi could only boil inside.

“Ugh…!”

“Brother. Are you sulking?”

“Sulking, what sulking! Who do you think I am!”

“I’m sorry, brother. I’ll apologize profusely!”

“You, you’re feeding me that, right?”

“Feeding you! How much I respect you, Brother Woo-chi!!”

“If you keep doing that, Jin So-ah, you’ll really shit blood, you know?”

“Huh? I’ve heard that line a lot somewhere.”

“I learned it from you, from you!”

“Kekekek.”

“You crazy bastard…”

Thus, bickering.

…even while bickering, Jeon Woo-chi’s carpet cut through the air without hesitation and pierced the sky.

It was a moment when the afterimage of the carpet adorned the sky of Sichuan like a flower.

***

“As expected, you have to push people. And hard! That’s how you maintain tension and raise efficiency.”

“What?”

“This law is true, brother. Isn’t that why I pushed the cadets of the In unit so much? Kekeke.”

“Instead of giving me a big bow of thanks…”

“Thank you, brother. Thanks to you, I was able to come to Gansu at this crazy speed.”

So-ah’s nagging was very effective.

Jeon Woo-chi, to be free from the nagging, really did his best to perform his flying art, and thanks to that, he showed the feat of arriving in Gansu the very next day.

‘Brother Woo-chi’s growth rate is really terrifying. Just half a year ago, to think that he couldn’t keep up with the quick step… this is, what! In about a year, he’ll be faster than a falcon… should I try to do a transportation business with Brother Woo-chi?’

Although he had been nagging Jeon Woo-chi, that was So-ah’s true feeling.

Even the Eight Great Dragon Steps of Kunlun of the former Martial Alliance Leader, Ha Won-sang, who had washed his hands and had gone to Qinghai to cultivate the Tao, or the Heavenly Demon’s Reigning Steps of the former Heavenly Demon, Wi-ji Un, would not be able to follow Jeon Woo-chi’s flying art.

Thus, after crossing Gongtong Mountain, which was located on the border of Sichuan and Gansu, and flying in the sky for a while longer, they arrived at Hezuo-hyeon, Gansu.

“Huh?”

“Huh?!”

A group of people, formed in an orderly procession, came into the sight of the two, whose vision was incomparably superior to that of an ordinary person.

“So-ah. Aren’t those people from the North Sea?”

“That’s right. It’s the Palace Lord and So-yeong.”

“So the North Sea is really moving because of your one request. It’s amazing, so amazing.”

“Hehehe.”

So-ah, with a smiling face, flew like an arrow towards Wang Bang-tae.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep