Chapter 192

Chapter 192: The Reason for Righteousness (2)

Bae Dal-pae was smiling at him.

A genuine grin, the likes of which Dong Bongsu rarely witnessed, spread across his features.

“As you are well aware, the contemporary Jianghu is fundamentally corrupted.”

Smirk.

Hearing Bae Dal-pae’s words, Dong Bongsu bared a set of flawlessly white teeth.

It was a strikingly grand and organic, yet entirely primal, display of emotion.

“Is it not inevitable for a decaying injury to swarm with discharge, insects, and parasites?”

“To what extent?”

It was a query perfectly in character for Dong Bongsu.

“Sufficiently to necessitate a master medical practitioner.”

It was precisely the reply Dong Bongsu had been seeking.

A champion of justice is fundamentally akin to a medical practitioner.

Only their specific modes of therapy vary.

“Shall we step outside at this point?”

[A petition has been submitted to the Hero’s Sect.]

Dong Bongsu reviewed the Quest he had unlocked from his exchange with Bae Dal-pae once more.

【Guild】First Request:

The Goddess of Fate has decreed that you guide a collective.

That, as well, is the path of a hero.

Presently, the initial undertaking has been bestowed upon you and your adherents.

It represented the initial ‘remedy’ for this fractured Jianghu.

․ Eradicate the Bandit Alliance.

├─ Progress: 0%

└─ Reward: History +1, a marginal rise in confidence from Bae Dal-pae

The Bandit Alliance.

According to the details provided by Bae Dal-pae.

It was a coalition assembled by all the ‘outlaws’ roaming around the Azure Dragon Lake whom he had failed to completely eliminate during his journey to this location.

There could not possibly be a more appropriate target to bring their efforts full circle.

Dong Bongsu hoisted the forsythia blossom resting in his palm.

A coarse hand, upon which crimson fluid had pooled, dried, been cleansed away, pooled anew, and been scrubbed off; a hand that had sustained injuries, mended, bled, and mended a thousand times over.

Flipping his palm over and over, he observed that it was entirely spotless now.

Only after verifying this fact did the blossom truly enter his awareness.

He was unmistakably gripping a forsythia blossom.

It was unmistakable now.

What was required at this particular juncture…

A brief period later.

He departed from the River Capital carrying absolutely nothing.

On that particular day, a modest forsythia was rooted in an obscured corner of an alleyway within the River Capital’s marketplace.

● ● ●

The Bandit Alliance.

The disparate factions of Stinking Trash of the Colorful Lake, who previously mixed like oil and water, had finally converged into a single unit.

The underlying motivation was nothing extraordinary.

It was simply because it was blindingly obvious that they would all perish if they failed to unite.

In the beginning, the outlaws operating out of the Colorful Lake lived an exceptionally tranquil existence.

They would consume the remnants cast aside by the lowlifes of the River Capital.

They would plunder the transport agencies that journeyed through the area completely oblivious.

They would abduct, pillage, and violate the migratory tribes residing in the frontier zone bordering Northern Yan, which was a short distance from their territory.

Those were truly serene days…

Then, one day, a cosmic rock plummeted from the sky, and alongside it, the tranquility of this region was utterly shattered.

When the Plum Blossom Fortress initially vanished, they assumed it was merely a stroke of misfortune resulting from the cosmic impact.

Yet soon, a single stronghold multiplied to two, two expanded to four, and four escalated to eight.

In due course.

Out of the prominent forces known as the Ten Mountains, Twelve Waters, and Twenty-four Horses that held sway over the territory surrounding the Colorful Lake, a total of twelve strongholds consisting of mountain raiders, water raiders, and horse raiders were thoroughly crushed.

Twelve out of forty-six strongholds.

While an isolated mountain or water stronghold had occasionally been wiped out or absorbed due to internal disputes over turf, there had never been a precedent where twelve were completely obliterated in such a brief window of time.

Initially, no one comprehended the reality of how these events were transpiring.

They merely conjectured that the cosmic rock striking the territory was of an extraordinary nature.

Nevertheless, the reality was soon brought to light that what had descended upon them was not a cosmic rock but a solitary individual—alongside the reality that every mountain and water stronghold positioned along his route of advance was completely wiped out.

The endpoint of his journey was glaringly obvious.

The lawless fortified settlement, the River Capital.

Consequently, the outlaws experienced a sense of relief.

Because regardless of who that individual might be, once they set foot inside the River Capital, they would no longer be capable of running rampant.

They would either meet their end there or simply maintain a low profile from the very beginning.

However.

The subsequent accounts that drifted in shattered their aspirations entirely.

“The River Capital has been subdued!”

It was an occurrence beyond comprehension, something that ought to have been entirely impossible.

And.

The narratives that trickled through one after another caused them to shake with even greater terror.

“A fellow by the name of Kim Rae-won cleared out the Eastern and Western Roads of the River Capital in a single night!”

“Hero’s Sect Leader Kim Rae-won has allied himself with the authorities and is systematically purging all corruption within the River Capital!”

The deficiency in authority and the chaotic state brought about by the reality of the River Capital.

For the outlaw factions of the Bandit Lake who survived on the remnants of that lawlessness, it was news that struck like a sudden thunderbolt.

It was only at that moment that all the outlaws of the Colorful Lake came to a realization.

For as long as Kim Rae-won drew breath, their tranquil days would never reappear.

Thus, it came to fruition.

A massive coalition, the Bandit Alliance, a comprehensive gathering of the thirty-four strongholds of mountain, water, and horse raiders—forty-six minus the twelve—was established for the preservation of their own tranquility.

And equipped with an undisclosed trump card, no less.

● ● ●

An entirely altered state of mind from previous days was settling over the Colorful Lake.

It was not merely the blood-infused eyes or the dark shadows lingering beneath their eyelids; a climate of absolute resolve, the sort one would observe from troops bracing for an assault, saturated the territory surrounding the Bandit Lake.

The portents of conflict.

A malicious resonance, the sort one might detect on a battleground where tens of thousands are ground to dust, emanated from the assortment of armaments gripped by the outlaws.

Lances, axes, poleaxes, halberds, sabers, swords, bows, and various others.

“Excellent. With this arrangement, that monstrous wretch will not presume to strike without caution…”

The commander of the Bandit Alliance, Fortress Leader Heo Tang-hyang of Underworld King Fortress, murmured under his breath from the crest of the mountain as he monitored the outlaws’ deployment.

“Are the Formation Masters all stationed at their designated coordinates?”

Hearing his inquiry, the coalition’s Protector, Fortress Leader Ak Sa-bi of Wolf Fang Water Fortress, who stood adjacent to him, gave a nod of assent.

“They are in position.”

Array specialists or Formation Masters.

Their total count was naturally destined to be minimal.

While martial expertise could be realized to a certain degree via rigorous practice, an individual had to enter the world with at least some form of endowment from the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements to master every one of the eight paths of formations.

As a consequence, they were figures who had stepped into an incomprehensible domain, unreachable in a distinct manner from the pinnacle powerhouses recognized as Cultivators.

In simpler terms, it signified that they were exceptionally uncommon and possessed immense tactical worth, and additionally that their financial demand was staggeringly elevated.

Be that as it may.

Irrespective of how costly they proved to be, they were bound to be less expensive than the value of survival.

In anticipation of the eventual assault by the Hero’s Sect, the Bandit Alliance had expended the entirety of the capital amassed during their tranquil times to engage a massive quantity of independent Formation Masters from the Formation Tower to serve as ‘soldiers of fortune’.

“Still, I must ask. If that individual fails to appear, is all of this not completely futile? Everything we are executing at this moment, I signify.”

Ak Sa-bi cocked his head, a single cheek twitching slightly.

At that remark, Heo Tang-hyang shifted his face toward him.

“That is an impossibility.”

“How can you possess such certainty?”

“I dispatched an operative to the River Capital a handful of days in the past.”

Heo Tang-hyang immediately directed his vision back toward the River Capital and communicated the findings of the scouting mission.

“The River Capital is no longer the settlement we once recognized.”

“In that case?”

“The operative reported. It was excessively silent.”

“Silent? What sort of complication does that present?”

“That precisely is the issue. When has the River Capital ever known silence?”

“…”

“It was precisely because the River Capital was turbulent that we were able to undisturbed devour its table scraps.”

Heo Tang-hyang pressed on, delivering his deduction with even greater assurance.

“If the River Capital has achieved flawless order, who do you imagine will be targeted next?”

He had no requirement to conclude the utterance for every person present to comprehend.

Following the River Capital, it was this very location.

Though it was an exchange strictly between Heo Tang-hyang and Ak Sa-bi, the dozens of alternative stronghold commanders situated nearby could not avoid reaching the same conclusion.

This location, where all manners of mountain, water, and horse outlaw strongholds were clustered together like a colony of ants.

The subsequent objective for those antagonists of the Hero’s Sect was glaringly evident.

They remained ignorant of the precise timing, but the deep-seated assurance that he would eventually arrive was mutually held among all the outlaws.

Following that exchange, no further utterances drifted across this space.

Instead, only the croaking of ravens and a bleak climate weighted down upon the entirety of the Colorful Lake.

Then, at a particular instant.

“Aaargh!”

A brief shriek that tore through the peace of this location reverberated from the pathway to the southwestern ridge.

It was precisely the sector where the Mamama Horse Bandit Group was deployed.

“They have arrived! They are truly here! The scoundrels have actually arrived!”

“Assault! Rather than flapping your jaws, assault, you simpletons!”

“Assault! Slay them!”

“The scoundrels are here!”

The multitude of outlaws had been suppressing their respiration, awaiting this exact juncture.

It mattered not if they were stationed on terrain, in aquatic zones, or mounted upon steeds.

Across all sectors around the Colorful Lake, a blazing intensity surged simultaneously, accompanied by plumes of dirt and aquatic spray.

They remained unformed as to how many adversaries existed, but the Hero’s Sect had materialized.

For the sake of their own preservation, the outlaws were required to exert their absolute utmost to butcher the opposition.

“Uwaaah!”

“Slay them!”

“You miserable bastards! Perish!”

“How many arrived? What number! You wretched pieces of trash!”

“For the females, I shall rip them apart! For the male scum, I shall sever their manhood and stuff it down their throats!”

The outlaws, discharging all manners of expletives and vulgarities, stampeded in a disordered pack toward the location where the initial shriek had resounded.

The Bandit Alliance, having concentrated the totality of its combatants here, would find themselves incapable of rebounding if they dropped this single engagement.

This location was required to transform into the resting place of the Hero’s Sect.

Kwaang!

A detonation burst forth in the sector where the Mamama Horse Bandit Group had been rotating upon their steeds.

Every soul upon the warzone detected something unusual.

It was a far cry from the havoc wrought by a conventional Qi Wave.

What could it be?

Prior to the inquiry even crystallizing, a secondary and tertiary detonation were perceived in rapid succession.

Kwang! Kwang!

It failed to originate at the pathway to the ridge where the Mamama Horse Bandit Group was stationed.

The secondary reverberated from the midpoint of the ridge, the tertiary from directly beneath the peak.

Had the scoundrels covertly penetrated their lines and mounted an assault simultaneously?

They were unable to discern with absolute certainty.

Yet the detonations were already battering diverse zones of the warzone.

Peong, kwang, kwagwang, kwajik…

The variations of the thunderous sounds were diverse, yet the ultimate outcome was identical.

Every sector was being penetrated, and the entire tactical environment was being systematically demolished.

Despite mapping out strategies for days and nights on end, the deployment across the entire territory adjacent to the Colorful Lake was disintegrating all at once.

The coalition was entirely incapable of countering or offering a response in any fashion.

“Assault! Assault! Assault, you brainless fools!”

Heo Tang-hyang bellowed and bellowed again, yet the momentum of the engagement was swiftly shifting against them.

“The deployment! What has become of the deployment? What are the Formation Masters accomplishing, blast it all!”

Beginning with the Mamama Horse Bandit Group, he could discern that the tactical setups of the Green Forest Fortress, the Blood Wind Lake Squad, the Dark Claw Bandit Group, the Flowing Water Bandit Fortress, and the Moonlit Night Colorful Fortress had already shattered.

And.

Only at that juncture did Heo Tang-hyang perceive the reality.

The adversary consisted of a solitary individual.

‘He’ was tearing through the inescapable net woven by the Bandit Alliance.

He was conducting a rampage without distinction.

The Four Souls Horse Bandit Army sprinted toward ‘him’ in tight coordination, yet the instant they closed the distance, they were all transformed into powder.

They had bragged that this configuration could halt even the chief of one of the Ten Great Sects… yet it was being ground down.

There was absolutely nothing they could execute.

“…”

No speech emerged.

Heo Tang-hyang could merely observe.

Witness their tranquility and safety disintegrate in a heartbeat.

An absolute sensation of impotence.

A sentiment he had never encountered in his entire existence seized control of his entire frame.

Then, an object materialized before his vision.

It was the lingering trail of someone’s movement.

Peong-.

A brief detonation.

In that precise flash, his awareness dissolved.

The Bandit Alliance had been trapped within a fantasy.

The notion that if they constructed a barrier, carved out a drainage trench, and raised robust fortifications, they could halt a tempest.

Yet a tempest merely tears through.

Inquiries, replies, and any variation of exchange are entirely worthless.

What additional words could be expressed when that tempest took the shape of Dong Bongsu?

The act of god that was Dong Bongsu commenced to envelope the entirety of the Colorful Lake.

In an instant…