Chapter 327: Darkness Returns (2)
The skill of the Beggars’ Gang members in erasing traces was amazing.
Gyu Jeok’s Azure Furnace Purification Art is a supreme technique of the Divine Fire Cult, so powerful that it cannot be compared to any Heat Yang Art in the Central Plains. However, the flames of the Azure Furnace are also fire. Whether due to lightning or a campfire, a forest fire could break out at any time.
The hundreds of Beggars’ Gang members who gathered quietly but quickly caught the forest fire in an instant and erased all traces of the battle that had occurred there.
In this vast Central Plains continent, fast movement techniques and tracking arts are essential to obtain information one step ahead. In other words, it meant they had as much expertise in erasing traces as they did in pursuing them.
Thus, the place where the life-and-death struggle between Yeon Ho-jeong and Gyu Jeok took place was disguised as if a pure forest fire had occurred.
It was a fast, prompt, and precise operation.
* * *
Before the break of dawn.
Zhuge Wen-hu secretly entered the Army-Destroying Pavilion.
“Are you here?”
“What happened? And Army Commander Yeon?”
“He will come soon. He is still washing up.”
“Huh! He didn’t get hurt?”
Yeon Wi smiled bitterly.
“He did get hurt, but not to the extent of needing to go to a physician right away.”
“What on earth happened?”
Yeon Wi explained in as much detail as possible within the limits of his knowledge. These were the details Yeon Ho-jeong had told him before going to wash up.
Surprise lingered on Zhuge Wen-hu’s face.
“A Zhenmu of the Guard Commandery?!”
Zhenmu is a Junior Fifth Rank official position, so it couldn’t be called a very great position, but it wasn’t a position low enough to be ignored either.
No, aside from that, the very fact that an outer-territorial figure became a government official was ridiculous in the first place. No matter how much the Imperial Family had lost its power and the government was steeped in corruption, to appoint someone who wasn’t from the Central Plains as an official?
‘Should we consider that they haven’t just pulled strings with the government, but completely taken over it?’
Zhuge Wen-hu’s eyes sank dully.
‘He said he was an expert enough to make Army Commander Yeon tense. Although he wasn’t heavily injured, the fact that he inflicted a wound on Army Commander Yeon is a great thing in itself. An expert of that caliber has the status of a mere Zhenmu?’
Yeon Ho-jeong was strong.
The realm he had achieved was amazing, but Zhuge Wen-hu was also well aware of his terrifying combat techniques.
If they were at a similar realm, there was no way Yeon Ho-jeong would lose unless luck wasn’t on his side. Rather, Yeon Ho-jeong was someone who would overwhelm his opponent without even a single scratch on his clothes with his incredible combat abilities.
In other words, the opponent Yeon Ho-jeong fought might have reached a higher position than Yeon Ho-jeong in terms of simple realm.
A realm one dimension higher than Yeon Ho-jeong, and Murong Yu.
To put it another way, it could be said to be a realm approaching the level of the Clan Heads of the Six Great Clans.
“Then the enemy is…?”
“Dead.”
“That is a shame.”
It would have been better if he could have been captured alive. Zhuge Wen-hu felt a lingering regret about that.
Yeon Wi shook his head heavily.
“I’ll have to hear more details from my eldest, but my eldest would also have tried to capture him alive if possible.”
“Does that mean capturing him alive would have been meaningless?”
“That could be the case, or he might have been an expert to the extent that trying to capture him alive would have resulted in my son being taken down instead, so he had to kill him inevitably.”
“That makes sense too.”
Zhuge Wen-hu, who was nodding his head, suddenly saw the shadow cast over Yeon Wi’s face.
“Why does your expression look so bad?”
“…”
“Is there another matter that I do not know about?”
Since his son had safely returned from a life-and-death battle, joy and worry were bound to intersect.
However, Zhuge Wen-hu, who had watched Yeon Wi for a long time, could tell. That there was something else he didn’t know about, besides this incident.
Yeon Wi shook his head.
“No. I was just thinking about something else for a bit.”
“Is that so.”
“It seems my eldest is slowly coming. Let’s hear the details from Ho-jeong.”
“Let’s do that.”
After a while, Yeon Ho-jeong knocked on the door.
“May I come in.”
It was a voice much more stable than expected.
“Come in.”
Creak.
The complexion of Yeon Ho-jeong, who opened the door and entered, was very neat.
However, Zhuge Wen-hu could smell the faint scent of blood exuding from Yeon Ho-jeong’s body. It was a blood scent that ordinary people couldn’t feel, something only martial artists could know.
Zhuge Wen-hu stood up from his seat and patted Yeon Ho-jeong’s shoulder.
“You have worked hard.”
“Not at all. I apologize for acting arbitrarily without telling you in advance.”
“My friend, what does that make me if you speak like that? Am I not just a lowly scholar who always sits around and wets his finger to turn documents?”
At Zhuge Wen-hu’s light joke, Yeon Ho-jeong smiled. It was a smile that felt an inexplicable emptiness.
Yeon Wi pulled his chair back.
“Sit down.”
“Yes.”
Thus, the three people sat down.
Zhuge Wen-hu opened his mouth.
“Since you must be tired, it would be best to keep the conversation short and to the point. I will ask directly. Did you find out anything from him?”
Yeon Ho-jeong spoke in a monotonous voice.
“He is an expert of the Divine Fire Cult.”
“I know that much.”
“The Divine Fire Cult has experts called the Eighteen Martial Generals. They are, so to speak, action commander-level experts of the Divine Fire Cult.”
“Action commander… W-wait! Did you say Eighteen Martial Generals?”
“That is correct.”
“Then does that mean there are eighteen experts of that caliber?”
“Yes.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed.
“The Martial General I caught today was the one corresponding to the twelfth among the Eighteen Martial Generals. His martial arts were not significantly lacking compared to the Clan Heads of the Six Great Clans.”
A fight is something where you don’t know the outcome unless you actually clash. This was a field where you could lose your life in a single strike to a warrior a few levels below just by taking one wrong step.
Of course, the higher the expert and the more experienced they are, the fewer such mistakes or variables occur. Variables could arise at any time, but typically, a fierce battle between experts is decided by the realm they have achieved and the characteristics of their martial arts.
In other words, it meant that there were as many as eighteen experts comparable to the Clan Head level of the Six Great Clans on the side of the Divine Fire Cult.
As many as eighteen true experts who did not easily tolerate mistakes or variables.
The faces of Zhuge Wen-hu and Yeon Wi noticeably hardened.
Yeon Ho-jeong continued speaking.
“Of course, there is a gap in martial arts among the Martial Generals. In particular, it is said that the difference in skill is quite significant among the Martial Generals from the Eleventh to the Eighteenth, outside the top ten.”
“Then what about the experts within the top ten?”
“It is said that the gap between them is not large. Therefore, there is no difference in ranking from the Number Ten Martial General to the Number One Martial General. Of course, in wartime situations, the higher-numbered Martial Generals can issue orders to the lower-numbered ones.”
“Hmm.”
“Of course, that doesn’t mean we can ignore them. According to what he said, those from Number One to Number Ten are at the level of the Clan Heads of the Six Great Clans or higher, and among them, there are experts at the level of the Sect Leaders of Shaolin and the Wudang Sect.”
“…!”
“Thinking from that perspective, although there is no difference in the overall level of martial arts, we can consider that there are one or two exceptionally strong experts among them.”
Zhuge Wen-hu’s eyes deepened.
All the heads of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Six Great Clans are supreme peak experts, possessing martial prowess capable of competing for the top position in a region. Of course, limited to active members excluding the previous generation.
So to speak, it meant an expert who could turn the tide of battle alone. But there are as many as eighteen such experts in the Divine Fire Cult alone.
That wasn’t all.
“I couldn’t hear the details, but if the Eighteen Martial Generals act as vanguards, there are also previous generation experts such as the Elder Council above them. I couldn’t verify their martial arts level, but I expect them to be definitely stronger than the Eighteen Martial Generals.”
Martial arts beyond the heads of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Six Great Clans.
“That means.”
Yeon Wi’s expression became extremely serious.
“Are you saying there are many experts on the side of the Divine Fire Cult who have reached the realm of the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats?”
“That cannot be known. I expect there to be at least two or three, including the Divine Fire Cult Leader, but there is still no reliable information about them.”
“…”
“As you may know, Father, the realm of the so-called supreme peak is also extremely vast. Didn’t Master Kong-kong say he was still far from reaching the ultimate limit of this realm.”
“Hmm.”
“The important thing is that the lineup of experts in the Divine Fire Cult alone is formidable. If the other two groups join forces with them…”
Yeon Wi spoke as if throwing out the words.
“We will be devoured.”
The Central Plains is vast.
There must be an enormous number of experts who have not revealed themselves to the outside world, and if we include the previous generation as well as the generation before that who are still alive, there wouldn’t be a great shortage in fighting the Three Cults.
The problem is whether all of them can be united into one. Even just the Orthodox Path and the Unorthodox Path oppose each other like enemies. Because there are countless interconnected interests within them, uniting the entire Central Plains is practically impossible.
“There is another problem.”
“The Imperial Family.”
“That is correct. I don’t know about the other groups, but the Divine Fire Cult seems to be trying to take over the Imperial Family and the government. If those who move the empire fall into their hands, we might not even be able to start a proper fight.”
Yeon Ho-jeong asked Zhuge Wen-hu.
“I heard that the Zhuge Clan has maintained friendships with the eminent scholars of the Confucian Scholars for generations. Are there many among them who have connections to the government?”
Zhuge Wen-hu nodded.
“There are quite a few. But if we make up our minds and try to pull strings, I don’t know how much they would move.”
“As I think about it, rather than sending false information to the Divine Fire Cult right now, the priority seems to be finding out how deeply they have infiltrated the Imperial Family and the government, and what and how they are trying to take over.”
“I have the same thought. So you see.”
Zhuge Wen-hu, who hesitated for a moment, spoke as if he had made up his mind.
“I should slowly make the existence of the Three Cults of Fanaticism known.”
Worry appeared on Yeon Ho-jeong’s face.
“Strategist.”
“Of course, I don’t intend to inform everyone. I plan to convey it one by one, starting with those who are above suspicion and are unlikely to turn their coats.”
“…It will be dangerous.”
“It is dangerous. But doing nothing is equally dangerous.”
Confidence filled Zhuge Wen-hu’s face.
“Leave that to me. I have been investigating the Honored Guests just in case. There are three people I can be somewhat certain of.”
He meant he had investigated them secretly without anyone knowing.
Yeon Ho-jeong did not fail to understand what that meant.
“You might face a backlash.”
He used the power of the Murim Alliance’s Strategist to dig into the backgrounds of the Honored Guests. If he were caught on this, Zhuge Wen-hu’s political standing would be greatly shaken.
Zhuge Wen-hu shook his head.
“I was not in a position to be picky about this and that. And, if my standing is shaken, you can help me. That will do.”
“…”
“Anyway, is that all you found out?”
“For now, yes.”
“I understand.”
Zhuge Wen-hu stood up from his seat.
“Listen here, Army Commander Yeon.”
“Yes, Strategist.”
“I am always sorry to you. Even though you suffer so much in the shadows, let alone compensating you, I am only relying on you more, so it is truly baffling.”
“Please do not say that. I…”
“So this is the only thing I can say to you.”
“…?”
“Do not blame yourself and move forward boldly.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes trembled.
“When I waver, I have no doubt that you and the Clan Head will hold me steady. So you too, do not worry about what others think and spread your wings to your heart’s content. If someone points a finger at you, then I will protect you.”
“…”
“You worked hard today. Get a good rest now.”
“Thank you.”
With those words, Zhuge Wen-hu left the room.
Yeon Wi, who had remained silent, chuckled.
“That man truly.”
Yeon Ho-jeong did what he had to do. So don’t make it complicated unnecessarily.
Zhuge Wen-hu’s last words implied that meaning. It was both his sincere feelings and a word subtly passed to Yeon Wi.
“Ho-jeong.”
“Yes.”
“You worked hard. Rest well today.”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled bitterly.
“Yes. Today I really need to do nothing and get some rest.”