Chapter 426 : Old Souls Never Die (1)

An ‍​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‍army of sixty thousand strong marched out of Ankang and headed east.

Of ‍​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍the fifteen thousand or so soldiers who had joined up from Hanzhong, roughly half of them were from Shaanxi rather than Gansu.

And ‍​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍those Shaanxi boys were losing their minds.

"Through ‍​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍the dark of night, through the pitch-black night, we set out in search of the dawn."

"O’ ‍​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍Heavenly Demon, we shall thank you. For giving us light."

It ‍​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍wasn't the hymns echoing from all directions that creeped them out; they’d already sung those same songs when marching from Xi'an to Hanzhong.

No, what terrified them was the look on their old comrades.

These comrades share the same roots as them and had happened to join the Ankang division.

The time they separated wasn’t that long, but the comrades that marched along with them right now were completely different people inside.

Those were the same men who mocked the Gansu soldiers for losing their minds and now they were indistinguishable from those very same Gansu men they mocked not long ago.

“Listen closely. The Left Guardian is a god. Pardon me, he is the messenger of God himself.”

“If he commands, ‘Let there be light,’ then light shall manifest. Do you understand?”

"If you don't get it, just memorize it and shut up."

Watching guys who were completely normal just a week ago lose their collective minds to fanaticism made the Hanzhong troops feel dizzy. They seriously wondered if someone had spiked the water supply with drugs.

Because Hanzhong had been spared from active combat, this sudden outburst of fanaticism was entirely beyond their comprehension. 

They have heard rumors that the Left Guardian’s defensive campaign at Ankang was flawless, but this level of worship was just insanity.

But three days later, they finally saw the Light.

After marching out of Ankang and crossing into Hubei Province, the army arrived in the vicinity of Yun County to find two forces locked in a standoff.

On one side stood roughly ten thousand soldiers in government army colors.

On the other hand was a smaller force in a mixed array of different garb, with fewer men by the look of it.

Il-mok scanned the patchwork of colors on that side and found members of the Demonic Cult’s allied force on the smaller army.

The moment Il-mok sorted out friend from foe, he charged toward the enemy line without a second's delay with his maids sprinting alongside with him.

"YEAAAHHHH!"

"THE LEFT GUARDIAN IS LEADING THE CHARGE!"

The sight of their supreme commander running to the front line wasn't what shocked them. Back in Hanzhong, they’d served under a hot-blooded general who had zero tactical thoughts other than charging straight at the enemy, so they were used to suicidal leaders.

What had them dazed was the zeal that came from the Ankang soldiers.

"The Light!! IT’S THE LIGHT!!!" Someone screamed, and the Shaanxi recruits instinctively turned their heads. There, floating in the Left Guardian’s palms was a swirling mass of energy.

And then—

BOOM!!!!

In that moment, the dazed soldiers finally understood why every single veteran from Ankang had transformed into a religious zealot. 

With a blinding flash of light and a cataclysmic roar, the Left Guardian unleashed a devastating force that seemed far beyond the limits of human capability

The shockwave had barely faded before his voice tore through the air.

"Any man who throws down his weapon and surrenders will be spared!!! Any man who keeps fighting is nothing but a lackey of corrupt eunuchs! Cut them all down!!"

With that shout, the Left Guardian dove back into the ranks, and sixty thousand screaming zealots charged right behind him.

For the government troops who'd been holding their standoff, it was like lightning from a clear sky.

An entire army of sixty thousand strong suddenly materialized on their flank, followed by a human-shaped catastrophe that was leading them. And before they could even process the explosion, that sea of madmen was already charging straight at them.

As the cultists surged forward, Zhuge Mun saw his chance and roared to his men.

"Attack!!"

With enemies closing in from the front and the flank at the same time, the imperial army’s soldiers completely lost their morale.

"All units, fall back!!"

The enemy commander screamed it at the top of his lungs and became the first man to turn tail and run.

Between the numerical disadvantage and the cowardly flight of their commander, the battle was over before it really began.

You couldn't even call it a battle.

Half of them ran away the second the commander opened his mouth, and the other half got trapped and threw down their weapons to surrender.

When the dust settled, barely two thousand men were dead or badly injured.

Moreover, most of those casualties didn't even come from enemy blades. They were from soldiers tripping over each other and then got trampled by their fellow comrades during the chaotic mass retreat.

In the end, the only casualties in this battle came from the ones who got caught in the initial blast of Il-mok's World-Destroying Primordial Jade Palm.

With victory secured, the sixty thousand cult soldiers felt their morale punch through the ceiling. They immediately started screaming their hymns like maniacs.

“GLO~RY! GLORY! O ’ DIVINE CULT!!”

Right in the middle of this deafening praise, several figures sprinted across the battlefield and made their way toward Il-mok.

Zhuge Mun, the Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal, and the Beggar King rushed forward while grinning from ear to ear.

"Welcome, Left Guardian!"

"That was truly an astonishing display of Divine Art!"

"Seriously, where did you even pick up a divine art like that?"

Il-mok gave a faint smile at the Beggar King's last question. "After the fight with the Heavenly Blood Jiangshi, I realized my martial arts were still lacking and went back to training."

"Hmm. With firepower like that, you might actually be able to severely wound that monster of a Divine Monk,” The Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal said it with a look of genuine awe on his face.

The display of power was so ridiculous that the trio was now wondering to themselves whether Il-mok might actually be stronger than Wi Jin-hak.

But for Il-mok, he found the Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal's phrasing a little strange.

'Severely wound? A blast like that wouldn't just vaporize him completely?'

Catching the subtle look on Il-mok's face, Zhuge Mun quickly stepped in to clarify.

"I'm sure you've heard the reports, but the Divine Monk actually survived the ultimate trap that our Zhuge Family had prepared for him back at the Mount Longzhong. He didn't show his face for days afterward, so he definitely took some heavy damage. I believe Senior Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal was simply drawing a comparison to that event."

Only then did Il-mok fully grasp just what kind of monster the monk really was, and he gave a wry smile.

After a moment's thought, he sent a voice transmission to the three of them.

—I will be honest with you. This Divine Art isn’t fully complete yet.

—If the monk is as much of a monster as what you’ve described, landing this move on him in a real fight is going to be a lot harder than it looks.

There was nothing to be gained by letting the weakness of the World-Destroying Primordial Jade Palm become known. But Il-mok had already used it several times in Ankang, so there was a good chance the enemy was beginning to catch on.

That was why he had decided to tell their own side in advance before it was all too late.

He deliberately sent it using the voice transmission rather than saying it aloud out of concern for the regular soldiers' morale.

"Well, damn..."

The Beggar King's face dropped in disappointment for a split second before he quickly smoothed his expression and swept his arm out at the surrounding field. "Put that aside, the fact that you've brought all these men to join us means we can finally push back against these bastards properly!"

The men the Beggar King was pointing at were the zealots currently screaming hymns at the top of their lungs in every direction.

"What do you mean by that?" Il-mok asked.

Zhuge Mun calmly stepped in to explain the whole mess from the start. "I'm sure you already know that the Anti-Demonic Cult Alliance and the imperial army have joined forces. The problem is their numbers. Between the Central Military Command and the various martial artists, we're looking at nearly eighty thousand troops that have split themselves into ten-thousand-man strike teams and are swarming the region. It is impossible for us to cover the entire region with just our forces alone. That is, until you brought your men in.”

The strength of the Demonic Cult allied forces, even when factoring in the handful of Hubei’s government forces that the Zhuge Family and Wudang Sect had pulled in, had barely scraped under twenty thousand, Zhuge Mun explained. And that number was already bolstered by the arrival of Hwangbo Ak and his entire family.

If all they had to do was defend a city, that might have been enough.

But with only a little over twenty thousand at their disposal, there was no way to stop eighty thousand dispersed troops from massacring civilians across the countryside.

“Those despicable bastards have split into forces of ten thousand and are slaughtering every innocent civilian they come across as they advance.”

The Beggar King threw in the commentary to back up the explanation and Zhuge Mun nodded before elaborating even further.

“Now that the Cult Leader has recovered from his internal injuries, he has headed north together with the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord and the Grand Teacher. The Head of the Ouyang Family, the Hall Master of the Demonic Way, and the Head of the Hwangbo Family have each taken their own fighters and soldiers south."

In other words, they were operating three separate forces of roughly seven thousand men each. The problem was that the enemy had split into eight groups, leaving five fronts completely uncovered.

"Then we'll have no choice but to divide these sixty thousand troops into several detachments as well.”

Upon hearing Ilmok's assessment, Zhuge Mun nodded in agreement.

Just as Zhuge Mun opened his mouth to say something further, someone jabbed a finger toward the south and shouted.

"It's a signal!!"

The shout spun heads southward, and Zhuge Mun's expression immediately darkened.

Il-mok followed his gaze and spotted a thick pillar of scarlet smoke billowing up from the distant southern mountains.

"What signal is that? What does it mean?"

"It means the Divine Monk has appeared in that area."

Since the monk was their most dangerous threat, Zhuge Mun had laid out a contingency plan in advance.

Any unit that encountered him was to send up a signal flare as the top-priority combat protocol. On top of that, Zhuge Mun had ordered them to leave behind individuals skilled in stealth at regular intervals, ensuring that any such signal could be relayed from one position to the next.

Zhuge Mun's grim explanation was all Il-mok needed to hear. "I'm heading south. Now."

***

While skirmishes were breaking out across the border regions of Shaanxi, Hubei, and Henan, a separate group had just crossed from Chongqing into Sichuan Province.

It was a small strike force of barely a hundred men moving mostly along remote roads away from prying eyes. After several days of evading the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's watch, they managed to slip through into Qinghai and reached Xinjiang after another couple of days.

And once they arrived in Xinjiang, they revealed their true colors.

"Every person living in this region is a traitor complicit in rebellion. Sweep through every village on our route and leave no one alive."

At the command of Mo Gyu-pil, Deputy Commander of the Brocade Guard, the roughly hundred imperial soldiers who had followed him answered with crisp discipline.

"Yes, sir!"

With every step they took, they carved out a road stained with blood and screams.

After massacring three entire villages in a mere two days and raiding the residents' homes to secure emergency rations, they continued their march toward yet another settlement.

It was on the afternoon of the third day that Mo Gyu-pil spotted a fourth village and pushed to the front of the column.

"Kill every last one of them. Leave no survivors!"

"Yes, sir!"

Once again, blood and screams ran rampant throughout the entire village.

"P-please... at least spare the child..."

After cleanly severing the neck of the filthy traitor begging on his knees, Mo Gyu-pil wiped the man's dirty blood from his cheek and pondered.

‘All I need to do is time our escape properly.’

On paper, this operation looked like nothing more than a suicidal mission to discard a pawn, but Mo Gyu-pil was still confident inside.

According to the information that the Eastern Depot had squeezed out of their spies inside the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, every single one of the Demonic Cult's masters was currently locked down in the war within the Central Plains.

Xinjiang was basically a ghost town with its gates left wide open for him to strut in.

He walked over the headless corpse and was about to butcher the kid that the father had just died trying to protect when the voice of his subordinate alerted him.

"Vice Commander!!"

Mo Gyu-pil turned with a frown and saw that several horse-drawn carts were approaching the village.

"Heheh. Looks like the dead just walked themselves to me."

Since cutting down a helpless kid was something he could do whenever he liked, Mo Gyu-pil saved it for later and strolled over to the carriages with his men in tow.

As the carts rolled to a stop on the village outskirts, the passengers started filing out.

"...?"

Mo Gyu-pil blinked. 

Almost every single person stepping out of the carriages was a withered old folk.

"Where is this place?"

"What do you mean where! This is the main headquarters! Hold on... who am I again?"

"Mom. I'm hungry. Mom, where did you go?"

"Sniff, sniff. I smell blood somewhere. But what was blood again?”

And not just old, but clearly not all there in the head.

Mo Gyu-pil and his men let out a collective snort of disbelief.

But right as Mo Gyu-pil and his men were laughing at the circus, two final figures stepped out of the last carriage.

And Mo Gyu-pil's smirk died on his face.

Judging by the staff jingling with spirit bells and the talismans strapped to him, one of them was clearly a sorcerer. But it was the other man who made Mo Gyu-pil raise his guard.

He was old, but his bearing showed that has reached a considerable height in martial arts. Mo Gyu-pil would argue that the old man was his match.

More importantly, unlike every other senior citizen who had just shuffled off those carts, these two had eyes that were sharp and completely clear.

Right then, the elder who appeared to be a martial master let out a shout loaded with internal energy.

"WAKE UP, EVERYONE!! THE DOGS OF THE IMPERIAL COURT HAVE COME SNIFFING AROUND OUR HOME!”

The instant the old man mentioned the Imperial Court, the wandering eyes of every addled elder on those carts went sharp.

"Insolent trash!!!"

"How dare you imperial mutts set foot in the land of the great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!!"

"As long as I, the Red Tiger Corps Leader, still draw breath, none of you will leave this place alive!”

Powerful battle cries erupted from the throats of old folks who looked like they should be on their deathbeds.

In the blink of an eye, the fragile elders were replaced by zealots with killing intent burning in their eyes.