Chapter 411 : This Old Body (1)

Luoyang, Henan Province.

Once the chosen capital of many dynasties, it was an ancient city steeped in glorious history, a place that had always buzzed with life to rival even Kaifeng, Henan's current provincial seat. But right now, all of that was buried under a stifling tension that hung over the city, which made its citizens hold their breath.

It’s like the calm before a storm.

The streets were entirely taken over by roaming martial artists gripping their weapons, void of people who called Luoyang their home. And it was all because every martial artist who had sworn to fight back against the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's invasion of the Central Plains was converging right here.

At the heart of Luoyang stood an enormous five-story-tall tavern. The top floor was the kind of place that cost a small fortune just to sit down for a single night, but the wealthy kept coming back to it for one simple reason.

Nothing said up there ever found its way out.

And right now, the most influential figures in the Central Plains' martial world were gathered on that top floor.

"How much longer are we going to sit around twiddling our thumbs?!"

Yangmuja's frustrated shout drew tired sighs from everyone in the room.

He and the Mount Heng Sect had only arrived in Luoyang a few hours ago.

The guy who was dead last to the party was currently throwing a tantrum like he had been waiting all year. But since his famously explosive temper was an open secret across the martial world, nobody bothered to call him out on it. Besides, everyone was getting impatient at this point.

Peng Muyeol, the Head of the Hebei Peng Family, swept his gaze around the room and spoke with the air of a man who was already in charge.

"There are still quite a few who haven't joined us yet, but we've gathered enough. I'd say it's time we got moving."

Coming from someone with Peng Muyeol's reputation, the tone was surprisingly restrained.

Yangmuja might be famous for his temper, but the Peng Family's short fuse was just as notorious across the martial world.

‘Tsk. If it weren't for my arrangement with the Eastern Depot, I wouldn't have needed to drag this out.’

Because the Hebei Peng Family had established their base close to the Forbidden City, they maintained rather deep ties with the government.

Naturally, he knew perfectly well that the eunuchs currently had the Imperial Family on a tight leash.

That’s why when he saw the Eastern Depot come knocking at his door, he knew that he had struck gold.

And his prediction wasn't wrong.

—If this matter is resolved properly, His Majesty intends to entrust the Peng Family with oversight of the entire martial world of the Central Plains.

Use the war against the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as the pretext to bleed the major martial factions dry and swallow them whole to forge a new Martial Alliance with the Peng Family as its head.

That was the gist of what Peng Muyeol had been told.

Since the Hebei Peng Family had been rubbing elbows with the government for years, Peng Muyeol didn't have any objections to this plan.

It wasn't like they were planning to wipe the martial world off the map.

At least, Eunuch Gong hadn't explicitly used the word "annihilation" during their little chat. 

Peng Muyeol was thrilled at the prospect.

In fact, what had crossed his mind was something else entirely.

'I can use this to purge every bastard who ever looked down on me!'

Shaolin and Wudang whom everyone blindly worshipped as the untouchable titans of the martial world.

The Namgung Family whose pride was taller than the heavens.

The Zhuge Family who had the audacity to treat them like idiots. 

This was his golden opportunity to butcher everyone in the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, and the Seven Great Families and sit alone on the peak of the martial world.

‘It's a shame the Murong Family of Liaoning hasn't arrived yet, but they've always been a cut below us anyway, so it won't be a major issue. As for the Battle King, that lone wolf can be handled whenever.’

The Battle King was a rogue expert who drifted somewhere between the Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions, and the only member of the Twelve Heavenly Pillars who didn't belong to the Orthodox side.

'It pisses me off that the Guangdong Jin Family and the Hainan Sect are staying silent, but I'm out of time. The Military Commanders are going to move soon, so I need to kick off this war right now, if only to slaughter the fools sitting in this very room.'

Peng Muyeol shot a quick glance at the Shaolin Abbot, Namgung Jin, and Yangmuja, and forced himself to keep his expression neutral.

Because if he let his mask slip for even a second, they would see him staring at them like pieces of meat.

***

Immediately after the council on the top floor of the tavern had concluded, the Shaolin Abbot headed toward the estate where the Shaolin monks had gathered to stay. 

He approached the quiet courtyard tucked deepest within the grounds and spoke with reverence.

"Grandmaster. We are set to march out tomorrow morning."

Despite being the highest authority in all of Shaolin, he maintained a manner of complete deference. Before he could even finish his report, a voice reached him through Mind Speech from inside the hall.

—It has been a very long wait indeed, Abbot.

"...My apologies, Grandmaster. The Demonic Cult has managed to draw in the imperial forces and others from the Orthodox Faction as well, and facing them on our own would have been catastrophic."

—I know.

Hyeon Am cut him off without hesitation and delivered the rest through Mind Speech.

—Abbot, you reek of perfume. That's hardly befitting a Shaolin monk. Spend the rest of today cleansing your body and mind.

"...I will follow your command, Grandmaster."

The Abbot pressed his palms together in a bow and headed for the bathhouse to scrub away the smell of wine and perfume he'd picked up at the tavern.

And in the early hours of the following morning.

Creeeeak.

The doors of that courtyard finally opened.

From within, an ancient monk who looked like little more than skin stretched over bare bones stepped out.

"Amitabha. Please wait just a little longer for me. Once I have purged every last demon plunging the Central Plains into chaos, I will gladly answer the call of Shakyamuni."

With a voice like grinding iron, the old monk made his vow to the heavens and stepped out into the world.

***

Mount Longzhong, Hubei Province.

Deep within the Zhuge Family's estate sat the head's main courtyard.

Key figures from various factions had gathered there for their own conference.

"Word has come that the martial artists gathered in Henan have started moving south."

The Beggar King's words prompted the Wudang Sect Leader to sigh with visible regret.

"If we'd had just a few more days, we could have roped the entire eastern half of the province into our alliance. What a shame."

Both Mount Wudang, where the Wudang Sect was based, and Mount Longzhong, where the Zhuge Family was based, were located in northwestern Hubei Province.

Strategically speaking, it was the ultimate defensive chokepoint bordering Shaanxi and Henan. But Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, was sitting way down in the southeast, right next to Dongting Lake.

That gap in geography meant the Zhuge Family and Wudang held considerable sway in the northwest, and convincing the local martial artists and officials there hadn't been too difficult. But winning over the officials in Wuhan and the southeastern regions had been largely a failure.

When the Wudang Sect Leader voiced his regret over this failure, Zhuge Mun just gave an indifferent shrug.

"If we spend all our time crying over spilled milk, we're going to miss what's right in front of us. First, we need to focus on what's actually in front of us."

The Left Guardian of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult asked, "In that case, how do you plan to handle this situation, Head of the Zhuge Family?”

"Defend, obviously. Since the enemy's forces are far stronger than ours, there's no point in charging out there and taking unnecessary losses."

Zhuge Mun's candid admission of their disadvantage made Yeom Ga-hwi and Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang's faces go stiff.

"Are you telling me that even with the four of us here, we're still at a disadvantage?" Yeom Ga-hwi couldn't stomach the slight.

But Zhuge Mun nodded without hesitation. "It's precisely because the four of you joined us that I even considered holding our ground at all. If the Divine Cult's support had been absent or insufficient, I would have packed up our Hubei recruits and retreated straight to Shaanxi without a second thought."

For people who revered martial prowess and had never flinched from a fight in their lives, it was a completely alien way of thinking.

"Come now. How can you be so afraid without even trying to fight?"

Zhuge Mun answered Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang's question without missing a beat.

"You don't need to fight to make a comparison. If the Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal's assessment is accurate and that old monk from Shaolin truly rivals the Heavenly Blood Jiangshi in terms of monstrosity, then even a combined assault from all four of you wouldn't be enough to stop him."

The bluntness of it left both Yeom Ga-hwi and Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang red in the face, and they were just about to fire back when the silent Left and Right Guardians stepped in.

"That is quite enough from both of you."

"We came here to support them, not boss them around to suit our own tastes."

Two old men speaking on behalf of the Cult Leader was more than enough to calm them, and Yeom Ga-hwi and Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang swallowed their anger and fell silent.

The tension hanging in the air didn't seem to bother Zhuge Mun in the least as he continued.

"The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's main force has already secured a good portion of Shaanxi. We plan to hold out here on Mount Longzhong and send word for reinforcements and bunker down here until they arrive."

"We are at a massive numerical disadvantage either way, so is it truly wise to simply hole up and endure here?"

This time, it was the Right Guardian who asked.

Seeing that the Right Guardian was asking out of genuine concern rather than being sarcastic, Zhuge Mun flashed a rare confident smile. "This mountain has been the Zhuge Family's home for centuries. Do you really think generations of our genius ancestors would have just left this terrain alone all that time?"

It meant the mountain was riddled with Formation and mechanical traps, stacked over countless generations.

"I can't promise you a flawless victory, but we can easily bleed them out until the Shaanxi reinforcements show up."

***

After making that bold claim, Zhuge Mun gave them a crash course on the labyrinth of traps and Formations protecting Mount Longzhong.

They also mapped out exactly where to deploy the combined forces of Wudang, the Beggars’ Gang, and the Zhuge Family.

Finally, they assigned their heaviest hitters to counter the enemy's top masters and ironed out the nitty-gritty details of their defensive tactics.

Once the conference finally wrapped up, the four elite fighters from the Demonic Cult made their way to the building the Zhuge Family had set aside for them.

"Tsk. I still don't like how he carries on like a coward."

Yeom Ga-hwi's complaint drew nods from the Left and Right Guardians.

"If he had been the one leading our Divine Cult's main army, we'd have objected too."

"But you have to remember that this is their territory and those are their own people and disciples on the line. Going along with their wishes is what the Cult Leader would want us to do."

Both Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang and Yeom Ga-hwi found it hard to argue with that statement.

At the end of the day, they were just a reinforcement.

They had come simply to make up the numbers and to fill the gap in the martial experts department on this side.

With that settled, the four split up and retired to their individual courtyard.

The building the Zhuge Family had provided was well-maintained, with several separate courtyards for each of them, which was either a sign of respect for honored guests or simply good hospitality.

As the sun began to sink below the horizon, the Left Guardian paid a visit to the Right Guardian's courtyard with a bottle of wine and two cups in hand.

"Hahaha. Aren't you supposed to be forbidden from drinking?"

"The late Heavenly Demon only made that rule for the youngsters who haven't reached Transcendence yet."

"Hahaha."

And so the two old men clinked their cups together and sat back to take in the view of Mount Longzhong as the sunset bled red across the sky.

"It's a strange experience for me to see something that we could only ever picture in our dreams."

"You can say that again."

They had spent their entire lives desperately wishing for a moment like this, savoring the mountain scenery of the Central Plains without any care for duties and just relaxing.

After all, reclaiming the Central Plains was the long-cherished and ultimate dream of all Demonic Cultists.

"My only sorrow is that the late Heavenly Demon cannot be here to share this with us."

The Left and Right Guardians had originally been men of the late Heavenly Demon, Hyeokryeon Il-hwi.

As seasoned masters appointed as Left and Right Guardians decades ago, they were already approaching a hundred years of age.

That said, they harbored no dissatisfaction toward the current Cult Leader, Wi Jin-hak. 

He had been the First Disciple, and he was leading the Divine Cult in accordance with his predecessor's will, just as he was meant to.

"All the more reason to savor all of this. When the day comes that we join the Heavenly Demon on the other side, we'll have stories to tell him about what we saw."

"Hahaha. Then let's make a pact to survive until the Demonic Way reigns supreme. We have to tell him just how tall the trees have grown from the foundation he laid with his own life."

"You can do that yourself. As for me, I'm fully prepared to lay down my life and become the foundation of that world whenever the time comes, just like our Supreme One did."

"Oh, shut up. Do you think I'm not ready to do the same thing, you old fool?"

Despite pushing a hundred years old, the two lifelong comrades bickered and drank together like a pair of hot-headed teenagers. It was their own quiet way of trying to mask the empty void left behind by the man they had loyally followed for half their lives.

***

A few days later, an imposing force of nearly ten thousand men approached Mount Longzhong.

Shaolin and the Hebei Peng Family, the Namgung Clan and the Mount Heng Sect.

Behind them marched an ocean of secular disciples and allied martial factions.

Add in all the minor and mid-sized sects from across the Central Plains who had jumped on the bandwagon, and the sheer headcount made them look less like an alliance of martial artists and more like a full-blown national army.

Once they drew close enough to Mount Longzhong, Peng Muyeol stepped forward as if he were their supreme commander.

However, his expression immediately crumpled.         

This was because a strangely emaciated old man from the Shaolin faction had stepped forward at the exact same time.

The old man had traveled quietly among the Shaolin monks the whole way there and acted invisible enough that no one had paid him any real attention until now.

‘Is this old geezer out of his mind?’

Peng Muyeol was still scowling when the old man turned his head and looked directly at him without warning. The old monk hadn't released any killing intent and hadn't even let any particular pressure seep from his body, and yet a cold sweat ran straight down Peng Muyeol's spine the instant their eyes met.

There was nothing in those eyes. Nothing at all.

They were so impossibly deep that staring into them felt like being pulled toward a bottomless abyss without a single point of light to hold on to.

Peng Muyeol swallowed hard.

And a moment later, he realized something.

He had stepped backward without even knowing it.

It was his body's own warning him not to get close to that old monk.

Seeing him retreat, the old monk gave the smallest nod, like someone acknowledging an obedient dog.

His attention shifted away from Peng Muyeol just as quickly as it had arrived, and he took a few steps further forward.

A crushing wave of Qi began to radiate outward from his withered frame, and his emaciated chest swelled as his lungs expanded to their absolute limit.

Moments later, an explosive roar shook the entirety of Mount Longzhong down to its roots.