Chapter 281: Chapter 281
Snow fell from the sky covered in dark clouds.
Unlike the pitch-black sky, pure white snow slowly fell.
Beneath the contrasting scenery.
Clatter… Clatter…
Dozens of horses were galloping along the official road.
And on all those horses, individuals wearing pure white cloaks were riding.
It was the Extermination Unit that had left the Iron Blood Sword Clan.
“They’re running like crazy.”
Cheon-hwi muttered while looking ahead.
Normally, he would be running at the front, but currently, at the very front, a single horse was galloping at a crazy speed.
The one going at the front was Danli Gwan-cheon.
He was the only one in the Extermination Unit with roots in Sichuan, and as soon as he heard about the mission from Cheon-hwi, he moved more hurriedly than anyone else.
Although all that could be seen were his back and hands holding the horse’s reins, everyone in the Extermination Unit could feel Danli Gwan-cheon’s state of mind.
Impatience, anxiety, and worry.
Harboring all kinds of negative emotions, he continued to run, keeping his eyes fixed only straight ahead.
At that time, there was someone who drove his horse and came right next to Cheon-hwi.
It was Ho Gwang-gae.
“Isn’t it natural since his sect is in danger? If the Beggars’ Sect was in danger, I would have run there in one breath too.”
Ho Gwang-gae, who stuck closely to Cheon-hwi’s side, spoke while observing Danli Gwan-cheon.
“I think the Unit Leader would be the same too.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Cheon-hwi answered calmly.
The Mount Hua Sect is in danger?
No matter who the opponent was, he would immediately rush to beat them up.
‘How much heart and soul did I pour to raise the Mount Hua Sect to this level.’
Just creating the Dark Fragrance Squad and the combined attack formation alone took quite a lot of effort.
But was that all, didn’t he do all sorts of things for them.
Until they became the Number One Sect in the World, they absolutely must not fall.
Around the time Cheon-hwi, who imagined the situation of the Mount Hua Sect being attacked, narrowed his brow.
“More importantly, Unit Leader.”
Ho Gwang-gae called Cheon-hwi again.
His voice trembled faintly.
He was pretending to be calm, but it felt like he was shaken more than ever.
“Do you have a separate plan set for this mission?”
Ho Gwang-gae asked carefully.
They were not easy opponents.
A staggering two thousand martial artists.
And were they just any martial artists?
It was the Blood Shadow Squad and the Ghost Shadow Squad.
Two of the four great martial forces of the Four Black Alliances were joining forces to attack.
How could he not be worried.
But.
“No. Nothing in particular.”
The answer that came back was concise.
“Is there a need to make some grandiose plan? We just have to crush them.”
At Cheon-hwi’s appearance of speaking as if it were obvious, Ho Gwang-gae was momentarily at a loss for words.
Of course, he had somewhat expected it.
Both when they attacked the Iron Blood Sword Clan this time, and when they invaded the Red Tiger Stronghold for their first mission before that, didn’t he blindly order them to charge unconditionally?
‘But to think it would be the same this time.’
He shook his head side to side.
It was too much of a rule-of-thumb method.
But on the other hand, he understood.
It was none other than Cheon-hwi.
The one who defeated the Blood Demon Sword and Heartless Blade and made the Black Yaksha and Star Brilliance Rakshasa run away with their tails tucked between their legs.
‘With the Unit Leader’s level of martial prowess, a plan wouldn’t be necessary. Besides, if we made a half-baked plan and an unexpected situation occurred, it would rather lead to ruin.’
In fact, an expert with Cheon-hwi’s level of strength often made plans meaningless even if they were set. So, rather, as Cheon-hwi said, it was better to just clash first without a plan and gauge their strength.
Ho Gwang-gae, who was thinking quietly, momentarily let out a hollow laugh.
In the past, he would have only been anxious about having no plan, but it was different now.
‘With the Unit Leader here, there’s nothing to be afraid of.’
His eyes captured Cheon-hwi.
The more he stayed with him, the more he keenly felt Cheon-hwi’s greatness.
He couldn’t help but admire even his current appearance.
Unlike the other members of the Extermination Unit who pulled down their pure white cloaks deeply due to the cold of the driving blizzard, Cheon-hwi had his face clearly exposed.
With a very fine appearance.
It was as if he didn’t feel the cold.
‘Perhaps he has reached the realm of Immunity to Cold and Heat?’
He, who was thinking, clicked his tongue.
Completing the Immunity to Cold and Heat meant that he had achieved at least Shedding One’s Mortal Body and Exchanging Bones.
‘The Unit Leader is truly the genuine article among the genuine articles even within the category of those called geniuses.’
When he first saw Cheon-hwi.
There was also a bit of jealousy.
Wasn’t he also a martial artist?
And although he never mentioned it separately, as one of the Future Beggars of the Beggars’ Sect, his martial prowess was at a level counted on one hand among the rising stars.
Therefore, Cheon-hwi, who recently spread great fame in the Jianghu, couldn’t help but become a target of jealousy and envy.
However, after joining the Extermination Unit, the jealousy and envy disappeared as if washed away.
‘What jealousy.’
Jealousy or envy was only possible when there was a certain degree of difference.
Since it was such an overwhelmingly massive difference, such thoughts didn’t even cross his mind at all.
At that moment, Cheon-hwi turned his head.
With that, their eyes met in an instant.
“I have one thing I want to ask.”
At the question, Ho Gwang-gae immediately answered.
“Huh? Something you want to ask?”
He made a bright smile and thumped his chest.
“Hahaha! Say whatever it is. If it’s something I know, I’ll answer everything.”
“They said a guy named Nong-jil is leading troops here, do you know who it is?”
Cheon-hwi asked while recalling the name written on the communication slip.
At first, he thought he misread it.
It was because it was exactly the same, without a single letter wrong, as the name of a monster in legends.
A fox with nine heads and nine tails.
The name of a monster that lured and ate people with a cry like that of a young child.
‘They probably didn’t write it incorrectly.’
At that time, Ho Gwang-gae’s mouth dropped wide open.
“Wh, what?! Nong-jil is coming…? That Blood Tear Joy King is coming to Sichuan?”
Seeing how flustered he was, his current state of mind could be felt just from his eyes that were barely exposed through the cloak he wore over himself.
At that reaction, Cheon-hwi tilted his head with an even more puzzled expression.
“Blood Tear Joy King? Is he a famous person?”
“U, Unit Leader. What kind of joke are you suddenly playing? There’s no way you wouldn’t know the Blood Tear Joy King…”
Ho Gwang-gae asked in a panic, but.
“Pardon? What joke?”
The only thing that came back was a puzzled answer.
Ho Gwang-gae’s expression faintly hardened.
He had never thought that there would be someone who immersed themselves in the Jianghu who didn’t know Nong-jil.
But.
‘Those eyes are serious.’
The eyes of Cheon-hwi, who was asking, were purely colored with curiosity.
‘To think the Unit Leader would be this ignorant of the ways of the world…’
Panicked by the unexpected situation, Ho Gwang-gae asked very carefully.
“…Then Unit Leader. You know about the Seven Monster Immortals, right? Don’t tell me you don’t know this either…”
“Ah, I know that.”
Cheon-hwi answered with a smirk.
“Aren’t they those guys who are experts under the Leader of the Four Black Alliances or something.”
The Seven Monster Immortals were people who were also in Cheon-hwi’s head.
Because Dragon Pearl Beggar and Hyeon-do had told him that they were figures to be careful of in the war with the Four Black Alliances, and had repeatedly told him not to overdo it if he encountered them.
‘Did they say that if the Four Black Alliances and the Five Imperial Sects didn’t exist, they were all people who would have reigned as hegemons in a single province?’
As direct subordinates who only listened to the orders of the Leader of the Four Black Alliances, he heard that their martial prowess was all at a level to stand unrivaled in the Jianghu.
“Ah! So that’s why it was Nong-jil.”
Thinking of the Seven Monster Immortals, he felt like he finally knew who it was.
They had said that the Seven Monster Immortals referred to themselves by taking the names of monsters instead of their real names.
“I was wondering what kind of bizarre name that was.”
“Phew, it’s a relief that you know. I was worried you might not know this either…”
Ho Gwang-gae let out a sigh of relief.
No matter how ignorant one was of the ways of the world, not knowing the Seven Monster Immortals was a serious issue.
Weren’t they none other than an important force of the Four Black Alliances.
But that was also only for a moment.
‘No, this isn’t something to be relieved about.’
He shook his head.
In a war, information was important.
But seeing Cheon-hwi, who knew nothing, a slight sense of crisis rushed in.
‘I need to tell him the information first…’
Ho Gwang-gae immediately continued speaking.
“How much do you know about them, the Seven Monster Immortals?”
“Well, just a suitable amount. Put simply, they are experts who only follow the orders of the Leader of the Four Black Alliances, about that much?”
Cheon-hwi spoke calmly.
“For now, that’s enough.”
Ho Gwang-gae, who nodded his head, flashed a glint in his eyes.
“Nong-jil is one of the Seven Monster Immortals.”
“That would be the case, of course.”
Cheon-hwi reacted as if it was obvious.
He had already somewhat guessed it from the moment Ho Gwang-gae asked about the Seven Monster Immortals.
“And the current Nong-jil is the person who killed the previous generation’s Nong-jil and usurped the seat for the first time since the Seven Monster Immortals were established. Because of that, his infamy is even more widespread…”
“Pardon? Usurped?”
Cheon-hwi threw out a question momentarily.
“They don’t just accept more people?”
“They say that the seats of the Seven Monster Immortals are fixed at exactly seven seats, and to obtain that seat, one must request a life-and-death duel and snatch it away. I don’t know what the purpose is, but I heard the Leader of the Four Black Alliances decided it that way…”
At the explanation, Cheon-hwi’s eyes narrowed.
‘Huh? Request a life-and-death duel to snatch the seat? Wait a minute…’
Something was familiar.
Cheon-hwi immediately asked him.
“Don’t tell me there’s a time limit for the life-and-death duels? Like only seven days and nights a year or something.”
Ho Gwang-gae’s eyes widened.
“How did you know that…”
It was difficult to hide his surprise.
The names and aliases of the Seven Monster Immortals were widely known, but matters regarding the usurpation battles were information that was not known to the public.
Since Cheon-hwi, who had asked who Nong-jil was, instead knew information that was not known, Ho Gwang-gae had no choice but to be surprised.
Meanwhile, the glint in Cheon-hwi’s eyes subsided.
‘To think I’d see this method in the Central Plains.’
The content Cheon-hwi asked about was the method of the Demonic Rank Usurpation Battle, which determined the hierarchy of the Heavenly Demon Cult that had continued since very long ago.
Cheon-hwi casually threw out a remark while looking at the surprised Ho Gwang-gae.
“I just thought that if they held life-and-death duels all the time, the existing seven people would be at too much of a disadvantage, so they must have set a period.”
“Is that so…?”
Ho Gwang-gae made a puzzled face, but soon withdrew his suspicion.
‘When he didn’t even know who Nong-jil was, how could he know that.’
Because Cheon-hwi’s words were also quite plausible, Ho Gwang-gae immediately continued his explanation.
“Anyway, his infamy spread not only because of his merciless killing moves and high martial prowess… but the origin of the martial arts he learned brought even greater infamy.”
“The origin of his martial arts?”
“The Evil Emperor Palace.”
Ho Gwang-gae’s eyes shook.
It was fear.
“I heard that he has learned the martial arts of the Evil Emperor Palace, which was annihilated a hundred years ago.”
“The martial arts of the Evil Emperor Palace.”
Instantly, Cheon-hwi’s interest deepened.
If it was the martial arts of the Evil Emperor Palace, he had also seen a few in the past in the secret cave of the Shadowless Divine Thief, no, the secret cave of the Flying Demon.
One of the Three Great Techniques of the Demonic Path, the Shattered Soul Bloody Claw.
‘It was quite an outstanding technique.’
The Shattered Soul Bloody Claw was one of the best among the many martial arts of the Unorthodox Faction that Cheon-hwi had seen.
‘I wanted to know what other martial arts of the Evil Emperor Palace there were anyway.’
Smirk…
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth slowly twisted.
Expectation rose up.
“I guess I’ll have to meet him once.”
* * *
Emei Sect.
Normally, it would have been a very peaceful and serene place, but a heavy tension had settled down in the current center of the Emei Sect, the Subduing Tiger Temple.
“The Four Black Alliances…!”
“…Are you saying they’re coming to our main temple.”
The Emei Sect nuns let out groans and looked at the people in front of their eyes.
The elder of the Qingcheng Sect, the Lone Clear Sword Nam Cheon, let out a bitter smile and spoke towards the Emei Sect nuns.
“This poor Taoist and his disciples have come because we want to provide assistance, even if we are weak.”
Despite the words that they came for assistance, a dark shadow had settled under the eyes of the Emei Sect nuns.
It was then.
Jingle…
The sound of a bell was heard.
“Amitabha.”
Followed by a Buddha’s chant.
That subtle Buddha’s chant echoed inside the Subduing Tiger Temple in an instant, and a refreshing energy surged.
And a little while later.
Step… Step…
A middle-aged nun slowly came down the long-connected stairs of the Subduing Tiger Temple.
Holding a Six-Ring Staff in her hand.
With every step, the Six-Ring Staff touched the ground.
Jingle…
The bells of the Six-Ring Staff rang.
Just how many steps did she walk like that.
Halt.
The nun’s footsteps stopped.
Instantly, all the nuns pressed their palms together in prayer.
“Amitabha.”
A low Buddha’s chant echoed in all directions.
Soon, the nun stood in front of the Qingcheng Sect Taoists and respectfully pressed her palms together along with her Six-Ring Staff.
“Amitabha. It has been a long time.”
Nam Cheon hurriedly pressed his palms together in response.
“It has been a long time since I saw you.”
Nam Cheon, who bowed his head once, burst into admiration inwardly while looking at the nun in front of him.
The nun who appeared was the Sect Leader of the Emei Sect.
It was Yu Su-yak, who was praised and called the So-woon Master.
Although she was known to the world to have passed her sixtieth birthday long ago, she had the appearance of a middle-aged woman who looked like she had just barely passed her forties.
“I heard the story through the communication network.”
The So-woon Master spoke while gently closing her eyes.
The Emei Sect, which boasted hundreds of years of history, had not allowed a single invasion during that time.
But today.
A crisis had come to such an Emei Sect.
The Blood Tear Joy King and two thousand of his subordinates.
Especially, the Blood Shadow Squad were those who learned vicious evil arts, and were people who walked a completely opposite path from the Emei Sect which walked the Buddhist Path.
The So-woon Master, who thought for a moment, slowly opened her closed eyes and moved her lips.
“Will the Qingcheng Sect be okay?”
“Our sect is relatively okay. The ones in immediate danger are…”
Nam Cheon trailed off the end of his sentence.
However, everyone here could infer the words that would follow.
The So-woon Master pressed her palms together.
“Qingcheng must be in danger as well, but thank you for coming to provide assistance.”
“Not at all.”
Nam Cheon waved his hand.
“The Sect Leader of our sect wanted to send more personnel, but as the situation is what it is…”
“No. I am sufficiently thankful for just this. Isn’t this a war where you might lose your lives, yet you came a long way braving the distance to help? Even expressing gratitude dozens of times would not be enough.”
The So-woon Master smiled faintly and expressed her gratitude sincerely.
She would also have sent support if she heard that Qingcheng was in danger, but she would have left more personnel in the Emei Sect.
Because that was her responsibility as a Sect Leader.
“I only did what was natural as a Righteous Faction of Sichuan.”
“Everyone knows that it’s easy in words but difficult to put into action. The courage of Great Hero Lone Clear Sword and the young heroes who followed behind him deserves to receive words of gratitude.”
The So-woon Master respectfully pressed her palms together towards Nam Cheon and the disciples who followed behind him.
It was a bow that was slower and filled with more sincerity than before.
“Amitabha. I will never forget Qingcheng’s grace today.”
As those words ended.
“Amitabha.”
“Amitabha.”
The nuns from all directions pressed their palms together.
At the actions and words of the Emei Sect filled with sincerity, Nam Cheon smiled back and took a fist-and-palm salute.
Soon, when they undid their prayer hands and salutes.
“Still, they say support is coming from the Martial Alliance, so let’s wait.”
Nam Cheon said while recalling something.
“That is fortunate.”
The So-woon Master swept down her chest.
If it was support from the Martial Alliance, it wouldn’t just be mediocre people coming.
Around the time when a sense of relief lingered in her eyes.
“S, Sect Leader!”
A young nun who was guarding the mountain gate of the Subduing Tiger Temple came running breathlessly.
She had even forgotten her dignity.
Around the time a few nuns showed slightly flustered expressions at such an appearance.
“S, support forces from the Martial Alliance have arrived!”
At the nun’s following words, their expressions brightened.
“The support from the Martial Alliance is already here?”
“As expected of the Martial Alliance!”
As much as the surrounding nuns were excited, the expression of the So-woon Master, which had been full of worry, also brightened.
The So-woon Master immediately asked the nun who came running to deliver the information.
“Yes, how many have come?”
It was a question laden with expectation.
Instantly, the young nun’s expression became awkward, and soon she answered while reading the room.
“Th, that is, it’s about forty people.”
The expressions of the nuns, who had been rejoicing for a while at the words ‘support forces,’ completely froze as if they were frozen solid.
“F, forty people?”
“That’s the number of the support forces?”
The enemies numbered two thousand.
Yet the support was a mere forty.
“…Forty people you say?”
The So-woon Master also narrowed her brow.
But on the other hand, she understood.
Wasn’t it a sudden attack.
Time must have been too tight to send many personnel.
Trying hard to think positively, she asked the important thing once again.
“Then what kind of people came from the Alliance? Was it the Three Squads, or the Four Units? Or did they select experts to come?”
Units that come to mind when thinking of a small number of elites.
The So-woon Master, who spoke those names, looked at the young nun harboring a very slight sense of expectation.
“T, they said it was the Extermination Unit.”
“Extermination Unit…?”
When the So-woon Master’s expression frowned slightly at the name she heard for the first time.
“It is a detached force newly established in the Alliance this time.”
Nam Cheon answered.
His expression as he spoke was not good.
And rightly so, as he was also a person who had come risking his life to help the Emei Sect.
But wasn’t it a mere forty people who came as support from the Martial Alliance.
And that too…
Around the time Nam Cheon’s eyes frowned.
“What kind of place is the Extermination Unit?”
The So-woon Master asked.