Chapter 545

## Chapter 545. The Lazy Strike (5)

“Where are they?”

“Currently in pursuit.”

“They haven’t been captured yet?”

“They’re as fast as rats.”

“I see.”

Blood Demon (혈마) stroked his beard leisurely. His reddish beard fluttered in the dry wind of Xinjiang.

“So it’s Wei Yanho.”

A subtle smile appeared on Blood Demon’s lips.

His gaze had always been directed towards the Central Plains (중원), and it was inevitable that they would be sensitive to information about powerful new figures appearing there. The name that had resonated most recently in Blood Demon’s ears was that of Wei Yanho.

And it wasn’t just because of his name.

When they tried to rise in Mount Hua (화산) and disrupt the martial world, it was Wei Yanho who stopped them. Even after mixing with the Insane Demon Sovereign (광혼마제), it was Wei Yanho who managed to survive.

When that proud Insane Demon assessed that Wei Yanho possessed enough martial skill to be considered bishop-level, how much surprise did it cause!

*’What a strange thing.’*

Wei Yanho.

From the Wei Family of Guangdong (광동위가).

Just from the Wei Family of Guangdong. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to his great cause was someone originating from the Wei Family of Guangdong, and that he had grown up as a brother with Wei Sanho (위산호) could only be seen as a joke by heaven.

*’Seems fun.’*

Heaven had always been cruel to them.

From the beginning, they had not desired the world. They just wanted a place to live. Radical evangelization, carrying scriptures and swords to impart death to the unbelievers, was not what the Divine Sect (신교) pursued. What they desired was just a small plot of land where they could grow crops.

But even that was not granted to them.

Heaven had been too cruel to them. Their numerous efforts to occupy a small territory in the Central Plains were thwarted again and again by the whims of heaven, and each time, the Divine Sect was forced to shiver in the cold in arid lands, waiting for the next opportunity.

But now it would be different.

*’We no longer need your grace.’*

There was no need to depend on something vague and intangible. They had already found their salvation.

The heaven of the Divine Sect was not above their heads. Their heaven was already with them, treading the earth and breathing. Although it wasn’t yet, it soon would be.

“That’s why it’s even funnier.”

That their lives were saved by that fact.

“Should we capture them alive?”

“Is it difficult?”

“It’s not easy.”

“If it’s difficult, it’s okay to let them escape. But they must not die.”

“How…?”

Confusion appeared in his subordinate’s eyes. But soon, as if realizing that even doubting was blasphemy, he lowered his head deeply.

“Tsk.”

Blood Demon clicked his tongue lightly.

Although cutting off his neck would be an unforgivable blasphemy, he was different from the other cruel bishops. At least he understood that it was natural to have such doubts.

“They don’t need to understand. They don’t even need to doubt. They must only obey.”

“Yes!”

“Do not question it. It is the will of heaven.”

“Yes!”

Blood Demon smiled subtly as he watched his subordinate respond.

*’The will of heaven.’*

Literally, exactly the will of heaven.

“Don’t worry about insignificant things. In the end, the destiny that awaits them is the same. If they don’t die now, they will suffer hell and then die. Heaven imparts a fair death for all.”

“I will remember.”

“Pursue them.”

“Yes!”

When the subordinate left, Blood Demon stroked his chin.

*’Idiots.’*

There were still those who did not accept the will of heaven. That even being Bishops of the Divine Sect they did not see the world clearly was truly regrettable.

Blood Demon shook his head and stood up.

*’Master of Divine Abilities (신기수사).’*

The image of him was clear in his mind.

Too young to consider him older, but neither could he be said to be immature. Blood Demon and the Master of Divine Abilities had clashed for supremacy. That battle still had no end.

“This time there is no place for you.”

The only regrettable thing was that they would not be able to decide the outcome.

A battle only makes sense when it is fought on equal terms. But now, Blood Demon had cards and objectives that the Master of Divine Abilities could not even imagine.

He could never guess his movements.

How could he imagine that the most dangerous, insidious, and grandiose event was occurring in the heart of the Central Plains?

“No one will know.”

Absolutely no one.

* * *

“Danger!”

Peng Dogeuk’s (팽도극) sword cut through the air like a ray of light. The red, tiger-shaped sword pierced the waist of a follower of the Demon Cult (마교) who was approaching Jangil (장일).

Splash!

Blood spurted from the severed waist. Jangil, covered by the spray of blood, ran without looking back.

“Damn it!”

Nausea washed over him.

This was madness.

They barely managed to escape. They had managed to shake off the pursuit of the Demon Cult fanatics who charged like madmen. But now they had changed direction and were breaking through the main forces of the Demon Cult again.

*’This is unbearable, seriously!’*

Living in the martial world, living with a sword at your waist, was no different than living willing to surrender your neck to another. The life of a martial artist was not knowing where the sword that would cut his neck would come from.

But even for a veteran of the martial world like Jangil, how many times had he faced a life crisis like this?

Since becoming involved with Wei Yanho, Jangil felt like he was truly living on the edge.

*’This is not my thing!’*

If he hadn’t met Wei Yanho, Jangil would now be in the rear, gathering information from everywhere. His role was to direct the countless beggars like grains of sand in the Yangtze River, but also to gather information and extract what was important.

But after meeting Wei Yanho, Jangil’s life changed drastically. He had to put all his effort into the study of martial arts, something he had never considered necessary, and he was repeatedly thrown into bloody battlefields that he never imagined facing.

*’Damn it.’*

Wei Yanho was a walking disaster.

Those who left their name in the world usually brought wind and clouds with them. Wherever they went, they got involved in events and solved problems. But the reality was that most of the problems arose from the interference of these so-called heroes.

Things that others would ignore or not consider problems, they provoked them, generating conflicts. All those problems and conflicts formed the feats of the heroes.

But Wei Yanho?

*’That guy is on another level.’*

Wei Yanho didn’t create problems. But wherever he went, problems arose on their own. It was as if heaven forced him to walk the path of the hero.

Okay.

Everything is okay, that is.

But why do I have to go through this too?!

Jangil had no intention of being a hero, nor the ability to be one. No matter how hard he tried, the most he would achieve would be to be known as “Wei Yanho’s friend”. Was it worth walking this thorny path just for that reputation?

Any way you looked at it, it was a bad deal.

*’If I manage to return to the Central Plains, I won’t have anything to do with that madman again.’*

As he repelled a sword with his staff, Jangil trembled.

There were too many madmen in the world.

Even the guy who was now charging towards him was the same. He wielded a ghostly sword that sent shivers down your spine just to look at it, laughing grotesquely.

With his blank eyes and drool running down his mouth, it was obvious to think, “Ah, this guy is completely crazy.”

What was really sad and frustrating was that the saying that “the crazier, the stronger” applied perfectly to these guys.

*Crack.*

Just by blocking a sword, the sound of bones breaking resounded in his arm. It was so vivid that Jangil turned his head to make sure his arm hadn’t broken.

Fortunately, his arm still maintained its shape. Although who knew, maybe it was already full of cracks.

“Amitabha!”

Boom!

Jangil’s attacker was thrown away by Musan’s (무산) fist.

*’Amitabha, may hell freeze you over!’*

Another thing saddened Jangil.

The madmen weren’t just on the enemy’s side. Ah, of course, he wasn’t talking about Wei Yanho. Wei Yanho was a textbook madman. There was no need to explain that that guy was crazy, right?

The problem was that others were crazy too.

Especially that monk.

Musan acted like a wounded wolf. No, “wounded wolf” was too elegant to describe him. “Dog in heat” was more appropriate.

“A! MI! THA! BA”

Buddhist chanting was not something to be shouted while crushing heads.

“Crazy Monk!”

When he told him to stop chanting while killing people, the answer was, “After all, I must pray for their rebirth in paradise, isn’t it more efficient to do it at the same time?”

Was that something a monk should say? If Buddha had heard him, he would have slapped him without hesitation with his big, thick hands.

Musan seemed more like a demon than a Buddhist, more an asura than an enlightened one. The yellow Shaolin robe was already so stained with red that it should be called a red robe or a blood robe.

The blood running down his shaved head was spooky.

“Kahahahaha! Demons! Today this arhat will send you all to paradise!”

Who was the demon here?

Who was the demon?!

Musan, with his imposing physique typical of a Shaolin monk, deployed his techniques and swept away the demons in an instant. Those hit by his kicks fell without even screaming.

“Kahahahaha!”

“Crazy.”

A fair and accurate assessment, Jangil thought as he looked back.

“Goodness gracious!”

Peng Dogeuk’s bright eyes made him back away. They were full of anger. Compared to them, the eyes of the Demon Cult followers looked like those of an innocent five-year-old child.

“Dieeeeee!”

An intense sword energy erupted in all directions. Seeing Peng Dogeuk laugh as he cut off limbs made one doubt if he was really the timid Peng Dogeuk he knew.

Although the environment changed people, this was almost a change of nature.

“Ugh.”

Jangil shook his head.

Only a few months.

Really only a few months.

In a few months with Wei Yanho, Musan, considered the next abbot of Shaolin, had become a bloody arhat, and the timid and kind Peng Dogeuk was transforming into a merciless sword demon.

*’Am I… am I okay?’*

Just as he was beginning to question his own identity, a heart-wrenching scream came from behind.

“Let’s go! Let’s go! Run! Let’s go!”

That guy wasn’t in his right mind either.

As he listened to Jegal Munin (제갈문인) scream, Jangil gritted his teeth.

Damn it, what does it matter if his personality changes a little?

That wasn’t what was important. What was important was to keep running now.

Towards where all this war would burn.

Towards the Central Plains.

“Run, Beggars! Run!”

“……”

It seemed that he hadn’t changed.

He had always been a beggar, and he always would be.

What a miserable life, seriously.