Chapter 279: Chapter 279
The war with the Blood Rain Sword Clan had ended.
The Patriarch, Overlord Blood Sword, lost his life at the hands of Cheon-hwi, and all the martial artists of the Blood Rain Sword Clan were captured and locked in the prison.
It was a perfect mission completion.
However, the expressions of the Extermination Unit members who completed the mission were tearful.
It was only natural, because they, who were martial artists, were busy restoring the walls and pavilions under Cheon-hwi’s orders.
“Why am I doing this…….”
“I didn’t join the Extermination Unit to do this.”
Someone quietly voiced their dissatisfaction.
Did this make any sense!
They were martial artists, not laborers restoring pavilions.
However, there was no one in the Extermination Unit who had the guts to rebel against this.
Because the person who ordered this task was the Squad Leader, Cheon-hwi.
“Come on, shouldn’t you move faster?”
Cheon-hwi, who brought a soft chair from the pavilion and sat in a place where he could see the entire manor at a glance, urged the Extermination Unit members.
“What are you doing over there? Use your internal energy, and move it quickly. You over there, cut the bricks properly to fit…….”
Cheon-hwi spoke as if he was giving advice.
Unlike the Extermination Unit who worked while sweating profusely, he had a relaxed and carefree appearance.
At that sight, the Extermination Unit members frowned, but they kept their mouths firmly shut and worked diligently.
How could they burst out in dissatisfaction?
Hadn’t they personally witnessed his incredibly astonishing martial prowess just a moment ago?
They could only burst out in lamentation internally.
‘While he rests like that…….’
‘Damn it! What respect!’
Cheon-hwi raised the corners of his mouth as he watched the Extermination Unit move the broken bricks and carry new ones.
‘Look at their pouting lips.’
No matter how much they tried to hide it, it was obvious.
Especially the members belonging to the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, who were blushing as if they were embarrassed to be doing such work right now.
Seeing them, Cheon-hwi opened his mouth.
“This is all training. Training.”
With those words, he leaned his body against the backrest.
And while naturally resting his head on his arms, he briefly swept his gaze over the working Extermination Unit and continued speaking.
“To cut rocks precisely, your internal energy emission must be constant, and basic muscle strength is required to move them. The most important things for a martial artist are basic stamina and internal energy emission. But if you can’t even do this properly, will your skills ever improve?”
The Extermination Unit flinched for a moment.
It sounded like the right words.
At that moment, Danli Gwancheon, who brought a rock and was cutting it into a regular shape, opened his mouth.
“If I do this, can I become strong like the Squad Leader?”
“Like me?”
At Danli Gwancheon’s question, Cheon-hwi chuckled and waved his hand.
“Hey, that’s impossible. Well, still, if you continue to cut the rocks consistently, you might become stronger than you are now.”
“Are you sure?”
“What would I gain by lying?”
In an instant, Danli Gwancheon’s eyes changed.
Following that, he adjusted his grip on his sword properly and coldly glared at the rock in front of him as if it were a bitter enemy.
It wasn’t just him.
The other Extermination Unit members were also enticed by his words that seemed to have a faint profoundness, and they started looking at the things in their hands again.
‘Is this really training?’
‘I can become stronger?’
They had their doubts.
However, since it was Cheon-hwi, who had shown absolute divine might, saying it, their minds gradually moved towards believing it.
Soon, their movements changed.
As their mindset of doing it reluctantly changed to being active, it also showed in their actions.
As the slightly sluggish work gradually became brisk, Cheon-hwi nodded.
“Now it’s a bit better.”
Around the time he was feeling satisfied with the changed appearance of the members.
“Squad Leader. Are those words really true?”
Ho Gwang-gae approached.
His entire face was full of a suspicious expression.
“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem to be any better than normal training.”
He was piercing through the core.
“That is true.”
Cheon-hwi spoke coolly.
The one who was flustered by that was Ho Gwang-gae.
“But just a moment ago…….”
“When you train, you do become at least a little stronger than before. It’s the same as that.”
Cheon-hwi, who was speaking, twisted the corners of his lips.
“Did I say that they would get stronger faster than when they train?”
At the shameless answer, Ho Gwang-gae made a dumbfounded face.
Then he soon shook his head.
“Squad Leader handles people very well, more than I thought.”
At those words, Cheon-hwi chuckled.
It was an incomparably funny statement.
To say that he, who was the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult in the past, handled people very well.
It was a very obvious statement, like telling a swordsman that he handled a sword well.
The smiling Cheon-hwi glanced at Ho Gwang-gae and asked.
“More importantly, is the task I entrusted to you finished?”
“I delivered it as ordered.”
Ho Gwang-gae nodded.
Unlike the other members of the Extermination Unit who were busy restoring the Blood Rain Sword Clan, Cheon-hwi had handed down a separate mission to Ho Gwang-gae.
“By tomorrow morning, the rumor that the Blood Rain Sword Clan has collapsed will spread widely.”
“Perhaps because it’s the Beggars’ Sect, it’s fast.”
“Haha! We wouldn’t be a sect that leads one hundred thousand members for nothing, would we.”
Ho Gwang-gae heartily thumped his chest, wearing a smile on his lips.
It was a smile tinged with pride.
A moment passed like that.
“By the way, is there a reason for doing this?”
Ho Gwang-gae asked carefully.
Cheon-hwi met eyes with Ho Gwang-gae, who was looking at him with eyes full of questions, and asked.
“What is it?”
“I’m saying, is there a need to keep staying here? Since we’ve collapsed the Blood Rain Sword Clan, it seems we can just leave now.”
His opinion was valid.
The mission given to the Extermination Unit was the annihilation of the Blood Rain Sword Clan.
And since the Extermination Unit had successfully finished the mission, they only needed to return to the Martial Alliance.
“Vice Squad Leader.”
Cheon-hwi called Ho Gwang-gae in a low voice.
A voice without highs or lows.
However, Ho Gwang-gae, who heard it, felt himself shrinking back without realizing it.
“What was our mission?”
“To collapse the Blood Rain Sword Clan…….”
“No. Not that, the mission of the Extermination Unit.”
Cheon-hwi cut his words off cleanly.
The mission of the Extermination Unit?
Ho Gwang-gae, who had frowned, racked his brain and soon spat out his words.
“The extermination of the Unorthodox Faction……?”
“What, you knew it well.”
Cheon-hwi smirked at those words.
“That’s right. Our mission is the extermination of the Unorthodox Faction. But do you think it ended with merely collapsing the Blood Rain Sword Clan?”
The light in Cheon-hwi’s eyes flashed as he spoke.
Cold and chilly.
Emitting a light as if it were jade.
“The mission we must accomplish is to deal with all the Unorthodox Factions in this Western Forest.”
“But Squad Leader, what does that have to do with staying in the Blood Rain Sword Clan…… No way!”
Ho Gwang-gae, who stopped speaking halfway, shouted with his eyes wide open, as if he realized something.
Following that, he swallowed his dry saliva.
His mouth felt completely dry.
“When would we visit them all one by one? Especially since a war has broken out between the Martial Alliance and the Four Black Alliances this time, there should be many bastards hiding like rats.”
“The reason you spread the rumor that the Blood Rain Sword Clan had collapsed, was to gather them all in one place……?”
“That’s right.”
Cheon-hwi smirked.
“If I throw them this much bait, wouldn’t the rats gather on their own?”
* * *
The Blood Rain Sword Clan had collapsed by the hands of a detached force newly created by the Martial Alliance!
The detached force that fought against the Blood Rain Sword Clan was also heavily injured and is currently recuperating!
The rumors about the Blood Rain Sword Clan spread quickly.
It was a rumor that would have been widely known eventually, but with the Beggars’ Sect taking action, the speed of its spread was faster than any other time.
And such a rumor was enough to make the Unorthodox Factions, who had been hiding since the war between the Martial Alliance and the Four Black Alliances was made known, restless.
Originally, Jiangbei was no different from the territory of the Righteous Faction.
Therefore, the Unorthodox Factions situated in Jiangbei could not help but have an unstable position until the war ended.
In the end, it was the worst situation for the Unorthodox Factions in Jiangbei, where they had to either hold their breath until the war ended or head south.
And most of the Unorthodox Factions remaining in Western Forest chose to hold their breath.
However, such a rumor was heard.
“What? The Martial Alliance’s detached force is heavily injured?”
“Then if I go to the Blood Rain Sword Clan now and suppress the detached force, the treasures the Blood Rain Sword Clan has accumulated over a long time and their ultimate arts will be in my hands…….”
The Unorthodox Faction members crawled out from the places they were hiding and started revealing their fangs.
This was an opportunity that would never come again.
The Blood Rain Sword Clan was an Unorthodox Faction clan that had reigned over Western Forest for a long time and ruled the region.
The treasures they had accumulated would be as high as a mountain, and their martial ultimate arts would be profound.
How could greed not arise?
In that way, several Unorthodox Factions that had resurfaced began to form an alliance to attack the Blood Rain Sword Clan.
Just one big score.
If successful, it would be a complete reversal of their lives.
Around the time when the Unorthodox Factions that had been holding their breath were revealing their ambitions one by one.
“Here, catch!”
“Ugh! I got it! Next!”
Three days had passed.
And during that time, the Blood Rain Sword Clan was in the midst of restoring the broken places.
Before they knew it, their clumsy movements had disappeared, and the Extermination Unit acted and spoke almost like professional laborers, moving nimbly.
Compared to the first day, it felt like an entirely different era.
That wasn’t all.
“There’s not much left now!”
They considered and encouraged each other.
The continuation of work without even a moment’s rest made them even tighter.
Perhaps it was thanks to those processes.
The broken walls and pavilions were restored, albeit somewhat clumsily, matching their proper forms.
Time passed just like that.
While the Extermination Unit members were working hard, the sun slowly set, casting a sunset, and soon faint stars appeared.
A time in the dusky evening.
“Yawn.”
Cheon-hwi, who was rubbing his eyes against the approaching sleepiness while sitting on the chair, looked at the door.
“They’ve finally arrived.”
Cheon-hwi, who muttered quietly, stood up from the chair.
Then, towards the Extermination Unit who were working while covered in dust, his lips parted.
“Everyone, prepare to fight.”
When the Extermination Unit looked at him as if bewildered by the sudden order.
Kwang!
The front gate, which they had barely restored, shattered to pieces.
“The, the front gate!”
“How much we suffered to fix it!”
When they were trembling with both hands while looking at the miserably shattered front gate.
“Starting today, we will take over the Blood Rain Sword Clan!”
“Come out! From now on, the ones who rule Western Forest are not the Blood Rain Sword Clan, but our Snake Head Gang and the Black…… Huh?”
The group that had been entering the front gate with great momentum flinched and stopped.
“Why are they so perfectly fine…….”
“I, I heard they were heavily injured?”
Embarrassment flickered in their eyes.
It was said that the ones who collapsed the Blood Rain Sword Clan were in a state incapable of combat due to a fierce bloody battle.
But what was this.
Inside the manor, people who looked extremely healthy, although covered in dust, were looking at them, who had just arrived, with murderous eyes.
Their momentum was quite tremendous.
No matter how one looked at it, it was hard to see them as people who were heavily injured and treating their wounds.
“S, Snake Head Gang Leader. What happened here…….”
At the moment when the society leader of the Black Workshop Society, which had joined hands with the Snake Head Gang, shrank his neck.
“These bastards!”
“How dare you!”
The eyebrows of the Extermination Unit quivered.
They began to erupt in anger.
“The front gate…… Grind!”
It was precisely because of the front gate.
How much heart and soul had they poured into restoring and fixing this front gate.
It was a task that took a full day.
“Do you bastards know what you have done?!”
The Extermination Unit, whose anger had soared to the tops of their heads, each drew their weapons.
Swords, blades, staffs, and the like.
Crack…
Perhaps the ones who used fists and kicks were loosening up their hands, as the sound of bones echoed softly.
Cheon-hwi, looking at the Extermination Unit that was suppressing their anger to the very limits of their heads, spoke in a low voice.
“Take care of them.”
The moment the order fell.
Tadadat!
The Extermination Unit lunged simultaneously.
“Gyaaah!”
“Urk! G, Great Hero!”
“P, please spare me, gaaah!”
Compared to the Blood Rain Sword Clan they had fought before, the impossibly weak enemies were helplessly pushed back by the martial arts of the Extermination Unit.
“I can’t forgive you!”
“I will make you realize the mistake you have made!”
Cheon-hwi, who was watching the Extermination Unit run wild, put on a satisfied expression.
“We’ve caught one for now, when will the next rat come.”
Meanwhile, a group of people, unaware of the current situation, were rapidly running towards the Blood Rain Sword Clan.
Neat martial uniforms and tense expressions.
They were people of the Righteous Faction belonging to the Martial Alliance located around Western Forest.
“Already?!”
The middle-aged man standing at the front shouted after reading the paper from the carrier pigeon that sat on his forearm.
“We must hurry up! They say the Snake Head Gang and the Black Workshop Society have already departed!”
He was the Sect Leader of the Yangjeong Sect, the Cloud Crane Scholar, a person who was praised as a great hero within Western Forest.
At his shout, everyone nodded their heads.
“We will increase our speed.”
“Everyone follow me.”
Following him, Capable Light Sword and the Jade Sword Sect Leader manifested their footwork.
The dozens of martial artists following them increased their speed and ran after the three.
And a short while later.
“It’s the Blood Rain Sword Clan!”
“Everyone come carefully!”
The party centered around the Cloud Crane Scholar stepped on the wall and leaped over it in one breath.
It was a fast and nimble movement.
Soon, the Cloud Crane Scholar, who had entered the manor, drew his sword and let out a loud shout.
“Are you okay! We have come to help…….”
His loud shouting voice gradually grew smaller, and it was soon dyed with bewilderment.
“Uh-huh! Can’t you move faster over there? Even if you can’t fix it right away after breaking it, being so slow to help…… Tsk.”
“I can see you idling your hands over there. Where are you trying to play tricks!”
“Pant, pant. Will it be okay if I put it here?”
“I, I will hurry!”
The martial artists of the Snake Head Gang and the Black Workshop Society were carrying bricks, restoring the manor.
And that too, while being scolded by the rising stars who were much younger than them.