Chapter 589: Side Story 89

Chapter side_89

“Cough! Wh-what on earth is happening…”

Gwan Tae-hyeong, who watched the massive pavilion of the Martial Sovereign Castle collapse before his eyes, coughed repeatedly with dust covered all over his body.

The surroundings were filled with thick dust, and cries for help and groans from everywhere beat against his ears. Also, hands and feet of people crushed under the debris, completely motionless, were visible, and blood flowing from somewhere was continuously soaking the ground.

What on earth was this?

Did a massive earthquake occur?

However, no matter how much he thought about it, it could not be considered an earthquake.

Since the pavilion began to collapse along with a sudden flash of light, and the ground shook at the same time they fell, it could not be seen as an earthquake.

If so, did someone do this intentionally?

But did that make any sense?

The Martial Sovereign Castle was said to be comparable to those two forces, the Orthodox Faction’s Murim Alliance and the Mount Tian Demonic Cult.

If one wanted to destroy such a place, hundreds of Thunder Crash Bombs would have been needed, but no matter how he looked, there was no sign of such things exploding.

“Ch-chief counselor?! What on earth is happening?”

“I don’t know either!”

An elder hurriedly approached and asked, but Kwon Hyeong-tae was equally clueless.

The Martial Sovereign Castle suddenly collapsing?

How could the symbol that had guarded Shanxi for so long collapse so helplessly? Since they could not even understand the reason, Kwon Hyeong-tae could not help but be confused.

“C-could it be… the C-castle Lord?”

“That cannot be…”

At the elder’s words, Kwon Hyeong-tae bit his lip.

He knew that they had used a poison that was impossible to detoxify. Since they were full of confidence, he did not think they had lied.

But what was this foreboding feeling?

“I will go!”

Kwon Hyeong-tae hurriedly moved his body.

He ran blindly, ignoring even the screams of people heard from all directions. As the situation became so urgent, he wondered why the Martial Sovereign Castle, which he had never felt was so large in ordinary times, felt so spacious now.

Exercising his lightness art as fast as possible, he ran and ran.

Passing through the vast garden and beyond the place where the Castle Lord Jeok Mu-seong had lived, he went much further inside until a dead end with nothing appeared.

Even though it was a situation where anyone could see there was no path to go, Kwon Tae-hyeong did not stop but quickened his steps, and the moment he reached the very end.

His body entered inside, as if captured by the space.

A formation had been laid.

The space that was soon revealed was a dense forest.

This was a place that Castle Lords had historically sought out for closed-door cultivation, and it was a location where no one except the Castle Lord was allowed to enter.

Following that dense mountain path and continuing inside, the entrance to a cave finally revealed itself.

“Pant… pant…”

Kwon Hyeong-tae stood at the entrance, catching his breath roughly.

Although he had doubts, looking around, there was no sign of anyone having come out. Soon, calming his mind slowly, he let out a sigh and stepped inside.

The cave was not very deep.

However, since it was a place where a person trained, the space was wide.

Naturally, Kwon Hyeong-tae’s gaze turned toward the large bed where Jeok Mu-seong should originally be.

“Cough! Cough! Did… something… busy… happen… chief counselor?”

“…!”

He was there.

He saw Jeok Mu-seong, unmistakably looking extremely decrepit, lying powerlessly in that spot. His appearance seemed not to have changed at all compared to when he saw him last time.

With that body, walking, let alone holding a sword and swinging it, would be impossible.

Such a person destroying the Martial Sovereign Castle was something that could not have been from the beginning.

“Heh… hehehe…”

But suddenly, Jeok Mu-seong began to laugh.

The laughter was so bizarre that it was bound to be grating to the ears. Unconsciously frowning, he glared sharply at Jeok Mu-seong.

“What… is so funny?”

“Why… are you doing that? Is something… foreboding?”

“…!?”

“Ha, hahaha…!”

Kwon Hyeong-tae furrowed his brow even more fiercely and reached out without hesitation. Grabbing Jeok Mu-seong by the collar, he radiated a murderous intent as if he would kill him right away.

“I can kill the Castle Lord like this!”

“Hee… go ahead and try.”

“…!”

“Even if… I die… or if I do not die… not a single thing… will change.”

“Wh-what does that…”

“Can’t… you hear it…?”

“…?”

“The sound of the Grim Reaper… approaching your side…”

Leaving those words, Jeok Mu-seong laughed even more.

Even though his blood points were blocked and his five senses were not as good as before, he felt it clearly. That he was not far away, and if he was there, those two bastards would surely be there as well.

“I knew… it would turn out like this someday… but it is a bit late. You damned bastards…”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

Kwon Hyeong-tae yelled even louder, cornering Jeok Mu-seong. He thought about torturing him, but when a massive boom echoed, he unconsciously shrugged his shoulders.

This was no joke.

What on earth was happening?

Because he could not understand the situation at all, his head was only dizzy.

“Ha, haha, hahaha!”

Jeok Mu-seong burst into laughter once again.

Although that was extremely annoying, it was right to grasp the situation first. Specifically, who on earth had attacked the Martial Sovereign Castle, and who they were that the situation had not been resolved yet.

The disposal of Jeok Mu-seong did not matter if pushed back.

Kwon Hyeong-tae pushed Jeok Mu-seong away roughly and ran out of the cave. His back, looking extremely hurried, was even pitiful.

“You won’t… be able to stop him. Who on earth… can stop him?”

Jeok Mu-seong murmured softly and let out a sigh.

As time flows, eras pass, and thus a generation draws to a close. The Martial Sovereign Castle, which had stood tall in Shanxi and dominated the era for a long time, could not stop the flow of time either.

Just as the Martial God broke and toyed with the era of the Central Plains Murim, changing the flow of time in the past, the current Central Plains Murim was also being changed by his hands.

The split of the Orthodox Faction into two was such a flow, and it was the same for the Demonic Cult, which was starting reforms under a new leader. The Unorthodox Faction had merely stepped onto that flow as well.

Therefore, Jeok Mu-seong laughed.

But why were tears coming out like this?

* * *

“…What am I looking at right now?”

In the deep mountains near Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi.

It was a place where, looking down from a high cliff, one could see Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, at a glance. Looking down from there, Yuk Cheol-wan stared with wide eyes and could not close them.

It was the same for Hwang Do-jin and Baek Man-ryang beside him, because the Martial Sovereign Castle, which seemed as if it would never collapse, was crumbling along with a flash of light.

That sight indeed held something that transcended shock.

The Martial Sovereign Castle collapsing?

Even the thing he saw before it collapsed, was it not sword Qi? The sight of it being cut straight as if slicing tofu with a knife was clearly a technique using a sword, no matter how one looked at it.

“What on earth happened?!”

Yuk Cheol-wan screamed, unable to hide his excitement.

His flushed red face showed his current mood, and his trembling eyes certainly held embarrassment.

Indeed, it was natural since the world-renowned Martial Sovereign Castle had been sliced apart before his eyes.

“I will quickly… go and find out.”

Baek Man-ryang ran off with a pale face.

He, too, found it difficult to accept this situation in his head. If he had seen it explode with a loud noise, he would have thought they used Thunder Crash Bombs, but this was unmistakably due to a sword.

“Please go inside for now. Since the situation is unusual, we must also gather the believers.”

Hwang Do-jin, who had been staring at the collapsed Martial Sovereign Castle beside Yuk Cheol-wan for a long time, spoke as he looked at the dazed Cult Leader. Staring at the collapsed place would not tell him what had happened, nor would it resolve the situation.

For now, calling the believers to protect the Cult Leader’s safety and preparing thoroughly for any potential situation seemed to be the best course of action.

“How… how much effort did I put in… and it, in a single instant, like this…”

“Cult Leader!”

“Silence!”

Yuk Cheol-wan yelled and shook off Hwang Do-jin’s hand.

He was that furious.

With heaven’s help, he obtained the secret manual of the Great Dharma King, mastered martial arts, and step by step carried out his preparations to establish the Heavenly Earth Sect and take over the world.

He operated secretly in Murim, turning everyone’s attention to the Heavenly Earth Sect, and naturally planted people in the Martial Sovereign Castle to shake up the high-ranking officials.

And by dragging down Jeok Mu-seong and giving them power and authority, he had slowly drawn their strength into the Heavenly Earth Sect, completing the final step for the unification of the Central Plains.

Ultimately, if he had obtained the scriptures hidden by the Great Dharma King and got clues about the Martial God’s martial arts, an absolute ruler who would unify the Central Plains for the first time would have been born along with the birth of a new Martial God.

However, the scripture he had barely found was useless.

Furthermore, he watched the Martial Sovereign Castle, which he had spent a long time and money laying groundwork for, collapse miserably before his eyes.

Tremble.

The corners of his mouth trembled involuntarily.

All his plans had been crushed and trampled in a single instant.

“Who on earth… which bastard…!”

“Since Baek Man-ryang went to check, we will soon know what the situation is. Perhaps the Martial Sovereign Castle might ask us for help, so please prepare.”

“Yes… we cannot do without them…”

Yuk Cheol-wan gritted his teeth and caught his breath.

The Orthodox Faction would never yield, and it was impossible to even shake the high-ranking officials of the Demonic Cult. What remained for him was to absorb the Unorthodox Faction’s crowd and build a force larger than the Demonic Cult and the Orthodox Faction.

Therefore, he could not give up like this.

He had to save the Unorthodox Murim at all costs.

“Let’s go!”

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