Chapter 417 : The Tide of War (1)

Once ‍​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‍their vision and hearing recovered, the soldiers turned their eyes back to the epicenter of the blast. 

There, they saw a massive crater gouged into the earth. Within hundreds of meters of the blast zone, the only living soul in that area is the Left Guardian, Il-mok.

Within a radius of several dozen zhang centered on that crater, only one living creature remained: Il-mok, the Left Guardian.

‘Has... has he truly become a god?’

At least a thousand men had seemingly been swept off the face of the earth. The soldiers of the Shaanxi provincial army stood there slack-jawed when a roar cut through the silence and hit them like a wall.

"YEAAAHHHHH!!"

"THE ENVOY OF GOD IS HERE!!!"

The soldiers from the Gansu army howled like fanatics, driven into a frenzy by the divine feat they had just witnessed.

And then—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

War drums thundered out from the fortress walls in rapid succession on the orders of the Vice Commander.

‘I knew he said he’d give us a flashy signal, but I didn't think he’d drop a sun on them!’

Recalling how the Left Guardian had promised to make the signal as flashy as possible, the Vice Commander had moved the moment he saw it.

The morale on the battlements had skyrocketed, and in time with the drum beats, the soldiers lining the walls drew their bows as one.

When the next beat struck the air—

BOOM!

The sky was bloated with arrows.

"AAAARGH!!"

Amidst the chaotic screams of the enemy echoing from all directions, Il-mok also swiftly swung his Ascension Sword to deflect a stray arrow. 

CLANG!

Apparently, there were a few archers up on those walls whose aim left something to be desired.

After knocking the arrow aside, Il-mok kept his jaw clenched.

One moment of carelessness and he was sure he'd be coughing up blood on the spot

‘Do I have to pull this insane feat every single time we defend the walls?’

The aftermath of the World-Destroying Primordial Jade Palm still remained a problem for him.

Thanks to his constant practice and a few real-combat runs, he was finally at a level where merely forming the energy spheres didn't tear his internal organs apart. The real problem was that he didn't always have protection every cast it.

Jin Hayeon would usually shield him from the blast, but she has her own duty this time. That left him with his weakened self to fend off the shockwave.

The worst part is that he couldn't let his men see him bleed.

"YEAAAAAHHH!"

The cheers of his own troops were still thundering all around him, and he knew those cheers would dissolve like a mirage the moment he started to crumble.

So he pushed through the churning agony in his gut and launched himself forward with a burst of lightness skill straight at the enemy.

SLASH!

Each time the Ascension Sword cut through or pierced an enemy soldier, their vitality was drawn back up through the blade.

‘Should I absorb a bit more?’

The thought crossed his mind.

There wasn't much left in his lower dantian.

Between the repeated use of Sky Walk he'd pulled off before unleashing the nuke and then the toll of enduring its aftermath, he'd burned through a significant chunk of his reserves.

—Hehehehehe! Yes! Give in to your rage! Drink their blood! Paint the field red!”

The side effect of the Raging Demon Sword Art chose that exact moment to flare up.

After grinding through the Western Military Command battle and then the Qinghai forces, he'd absorbed more Blood Qi along the way. The Extreme Yang Qi in his middle dantian had grown stronger for it, and his mastery of the Raging Demon Sword Art had crept up another step.

But the demon's creepy whispering actually helped clear his head.

‘Shut up.’

There was no way in hell he was falling for those cheap tricks. Besides, there was a practical reason to hold back.

‘If I absorb too much of the Blood Qi, the vengeful spirits inside the Ascension Sword will start a revolt. That's a losing trade in the long run.’

Most of the spirits dwelling in the Ascension Sword had been born from the Blood Cult's doing, which was precisely why they recognized Il-mok as their master after he'd crushed the Heavenly Blood Jiangshi and brought the Blood Cult down. But if the vengeful souls of the men he killed here started stacking up in the sword, it could turn into a serious problem down the road.

‘I've already got two noisy motherfuckers throwing a fit inside me. If the Ascension Sword starts acting up on top of that, I'm actually finished.’

Keeping that thought sharp in the back of his mind, Il-mok kept swinging his sword.

Up on the battlements of Ankang, arrows continued to rain down without pause.

"Are you going to leave everything to the Left Guardian?!"

Several martial artists leaped down from the walls and charged into the fray.

Hwangbo Ak and Jin Hayeon led the way, followed only by those with genuine ability from both the Hwangbo Family and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

Anyone of middling skill who jumped down risked getting killed by a stray arrow from their own side, so they were chosen as a reserve.

"Ha!"

Hwangbo Ak cloaked his entire body in Force Qi Armor and bulldozed through the enemies in front of him like a mad bull.

Meanwhile, the battlefield near Jin Hayeon was silent except for the cracking sounds from the frozen soldiers collapsing to icy dust.

Following the path opened by Jin Hayeon and Hwangbo Ak, Seon-ah and Hwangbo Yeon finished off what was left by the two slaughter machines.

Before long, Il-mok realized the enemies around him had dwindled to almost nothing and turned his gaze toward the enemy main camp.

Whether it was because the World-Destroying Primordial Jade Palm had completely seized the initiative, or because they'd watched their entire vanguard get reduced to ash in an instant, the enemy main force was hesitating instead of sending in the next wave.

"Huu."

Il-mok let out a slow breath, then drew in a deep one.

He couldn't tell whether it was the stench rising off the corpses scattered all around him or the taste welling up from the damage inside his own body, but the metallic reek of blood seemed to fill the air.

“LISTEN TO ME, SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE!!!”

Il-mok pushed that smell out of his mind and dug into what little Qi remained in his lower dantian to amplify his voice.

“THE DIVINE CULT STANDS WITH THE PEOPLE! WE SHALL BEHEAD THE CORRUPT EUNUCHS WHO HAVE PLUNGED THE REALM INTO RUIN, AND WE WILL CRUSH ANYONE WHO STANDS WITH THEM! IF YOU SHARE OUR WILL, THROW DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER! CHOOSE DEFIANCE, AND YOU CHOOSE DEATH!!!”

The declaration reverberated across the entire field in wave after wave, leaving a heavy silence on the battlefield.

Il-mok stood his ground and waited.

But right up until the very end, no answer came from the enemy lines.

***

Four hours later, the chaotic clash ended.

BANG!

"What the hell even is that monster?!"

The Central Military Commander slammed his fist down so hard that the heavy wooden table in his war tent exploded into splinters. 

Losing a vanguard in an opening skirmish wasn’t the end of the world; that was simply how skirmishes tended to go.

Unfortunately for him, the skirmish wasn’t a part of his plan.

Their actual plan was to overrun Ankang in a single day, but Il-mok's terrifying display of power had completely broken their momentum and forced them to call off the siege before it even began.

But regardless of their original plans, the main value of a skirmish lay in gauging the enemy's strength, and based on what they'd learned, they needed to come up with a plan to counter the enemy’s trump card.

The problem was that no such plan was coming to mind. Which was why, after four hours of meeting, they had absolutely nothing to show for it.

“Are you taking your anger out on me right now, Commander?”

With their grand plans in tatters, the fragile alliance between the Commander and the Eunuch was already fracturing. 

But just as the two glared at each other, the sound of frantic footsteps reached them.

"What is it?!" The Commander barked with irritation.

An answer came almost immediately.

"S-someone from the Forbidden City has arrived! The Director of the Eastern Depot, sir!"

Both the Central Military Commander and Eunuch Bang's faces twisted at that. Just thinking about the Supreme Eunuch hearing news of the defeat made it hard to breathe.

Eunuch Bang's expression in particular looked like it was about to cave in on itself, since the position of Director of the Eastern Depot had originally been his.

A suffocating silence hung in the air.

Shortly after, Eunuch Gong stepped into the command tent.

"I hear you lost the opening skirmish."

Both the Commander and Eunuch Bang winced. But what came next made their expressions flip entirely.

"Well done."

They both assumed it was sarcasm, but one look at Eunuch Gong's face left them staring back at him in blank confusion.

“W-we did well? What on earth do you mean by that, Director?”

Eunuch Gong furrowed his brow slightly at the Commander's question.

"Do you not know the Supreme Eunuch's intentions? Don't tell me you actually lost without realizing what you were supposed to be doing."

Eunuch Bang caught the meaning behind those words and jumped in quickly.

"Of course we know! He intends to wipe out both the Demonic Cult scum and the Central Plains martial artists in one go, doesn't he?!"

"Exactly. The Supreme Eunuch has given his instructions that this Central Military Command is to coordinate that mutual destruction."

"Coordinate... Are you perhaps referring to the battlefield in Hubei?"

"You understand well. If the Central Plains martial artists start gaining the upper hand in Hubei, we pull back just enough here to let the Demonic Cult scum send reinforcements. And if the Demonic Cult starts gaining the upper hand in Hubei, we press hard here so they can't afford to send any."

Eunuch Bang's mind was already moving fast.

"Hahaha. I had anticipated that this was the Supreme Eunuch's intention, but hearing it directly puts my mind at ease. We only conducted a skirmish with the plan to apply moderate pressure, though I admit I was worried we might have misread things."

Eunuch Bang deliberately used "we" as he improvised his way through the moment, and the Central Military Commander quickly fell in line.

"Yes. Hahaha. In that case, we’ll just play defense and keep them in a stalemate!”

Neither of them spared a single thought for the five thousand-odd soldiers who had died in that skirmish.

It would be a different story if they had lost a hundred thousand and their army was on the verge of collapse. But with the loss still in the acceptable range of five thousand, they didn’t care the slightest bit. They could always conscript more men from the provinces under the Central Military Command's jurisdiction.

To this general and these eunuchs, their own career advancement was worth far more than the lives of ten thousand men.

***

A few days earlier, Xiangyang City that’s roughly half a day's travel from Mount Longzhong.

The people who had originally called this place home were nowhere to be seen. Instead, armed martial artists moved through the streets in every direction.

The warriors of the Anti-Demonic Cult Alliance had taken root here.

The city was empty not because they had kicked out the locals.

Xiangyang had always sat close to Mount Longzhong, meaning it had essentially been under the Zhuge Family's governance.

The Zhuge Family had already evacuated the common people well in advance as a part of their scorched earth strategy and partly to keep innocent civilians out of harm's way. Only a stubborn handful of residents who had refused to leave their homes to the very end had stayed behind in Xiangyang.

And every last one of them now hung headless, their skulls mounted on display.

The martial artists who had taken heavy losses at Mount Longzhong had slaughtered those civilians to vent their rage, branding them under the absurd pretense that they had been corrupted and turned by the Demonic Cult.

To seal the lie, they had pinned wooden signs next to the swinging corpses:

[Spies of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult]

Beyond that grim entrance lined with the bodies of innocent people, sat a secluded house. It was a tiny and cramped place where even ten people would struggle to live comfortably.

That was where the surviving Shaolin monks had gathered and made their residence.

The Shaolin Abbot had returned from the war council and walked up to the entrance of a small room tucked into a corner of the house.

"Grandmaster, the Murong Family of Liaoning arrived here just today. New vagabonds from all across the Central Plains have also been gathering here as well."

There was no response from inside the room.

"We have also received a report from the scouts sent to Mount Wudang. They report that roughly a thousand Demonic Cult members from the Shaanxi region have joined forces at Wudang. And among those thousand, they say the new Cult Leader was present as well."

The moment the Cult leader was mentioned, a storm-like surge of Qi erupted from inside the room.

A tempest of Qi swept through the area as if it might level everything in its path, but then quickly subsided. The doors of the room swung open, and a skeletal old monk emerged.

"Grandmaster!! Have you finally made a full recovery?!"

The Shaolin Abbot cried out with joy in his voice, but his eyes told a different story entirely.

A viscous killing intent had taken root in them.

After losing the majority of Shaolin's monks at Mount Longzhong, every doubt had been burned out of the Abbot's heart.

His mind held only one purpose now.

To wipe out the Demonic Cult and every faction allied with them.

And for that, he needed the Grandmaster’s might, the man who had only recently come to be called the Divine Monk.

"Amitabha. I must apologize for keeping you waiting, Abbot. This old body of mine is slow to recover compared to the young ones."

In truth, the biggest reason the Orthodox Faction forces had settled in Xiangyang rather than pursuing the Demonic Cult was precisely because of Hyeon Am's injuries. Mounting an offensive without their greatest asset would be no different from suicide.

The delay was partly due to his aged body struggling to contain the enormous internal energy coursing through it. Another part of it was also due to the Heart Demon that sprouted from the loss of over a hundred monks in Mount Longzhong.

Even though his wounds weren't fatal, it had taken him six long days to finally break through the mental block and heal.

"Do not worry, Grandmaster. If we can rid this land of every last demon and give peace to the souls of those who have already gone, what does the time matter?"

"Those are wise words. And yet, we risk losing the chance to give them that peace if we tarry too long."

Hyeon Am turned his bony neck and looked in the direction of Mount Wudang.

"In that sense, this is indeed most welcome news. The heavens have been kind to deliver the head of the Demonic Cult Leader to us so quickly, allowing us to offer his blood to our fallen brothers.”

Following his gaze, the Abbot turned toward Mount Wudang as well.

At that moment, the holy robes that symbolize the Shaolin fluttered from the killing intent seeping out of them.