Chapter 360

Chapter 360: Intelligence (5)

A few days prior, the Dark Shadow Pavilion Lord had been keeping watch on the Martial Alliance’s headquarters when he noticed something was off.

The operatives that had slipped out of the Alliance had returned, but the Vice Pavilion Lord hadn’t come back with them.

‘Don’t tell me!’

A creeping dread that something had happened to the Vice Pavilion Lord set in, and so the Pavilion Lord began retracing Seo Wan-pyeong’s steps.

As per Dark Shadow Pavilion’s protocol, Seo Wan-pyeong had been leaving behind their unique markers as he moved. Thanks to that, the Pavilion Lord was able to track him down to the shrine Seo Wan-pyeong had arrived at.

From the traces left at the scene, the Pavilion Lord was able to piece together roughly what had gone down. There had been some kind of exchange at this place, and Seo Wan-pyeong had moved out in pursuit of someone.

From there, the Pavilion Lord kept following the trail Seo Wan-pyeong had left behind and managed to arrive on the scene just in time.

After hurling a hidden weapon to pull Seo Wan-pyeong out of danger, the Pavilion Lord quickly sent a voice transmission.

—Vice Pavilion Lord, leave this one to me. Use the time to get what you need.

Surprisingly, the same eunuch who had cornered Seo Wan-pyeong recognized the Pavilion Lord immediately.

“Well, well. If it isn’t that little rat I let slip through my fingers last time. Who would’ve thought the lucky bastard would come crawling back to die on his own?”

The Pavilion Lord didn’t bother with a reply and quietly drew a dagger in response.

The Pavilion Lord knew that eunuch too.

They had crossed paths once before, and just like the man said, the Pavilion Lord had barely made it out alive.

‘It’ll be different this time.’

While those words settled in the Pavilion Lord’s mind, the eunuch who had retrieved the letter addressed the older eunuch.

“Grand Eunuch, let me handle this one.”

“Do as you like.”

As the two Eastern Depot men exchanged words with leisure tone, a drifting cloud slid across the moon and the forest suddenly plunged into sudden darkness.

Pat!

The Pavilion Lord seized the moment and launched a hidden weapon. At the same time, Seo Wan-pyeong bolted toward the eunuch he’d originally been chasing.

Clang!

Steel rang out on both sides at once, and the fight between the two Dark Shadow Pavilion operatives and the two Eastern Depot eunuchs was underway.

Seo Wan-pyeong drove straight at the eunuch carrying the letter while the Pavilion Lord closed the gap the moment the enemy deflected them and drove a dagger forward.

“Hmph.”

The one called the Grand Eunuch let out a dismissive snort and swung his sword to meet the dagger head-on.

Clang!

But the moment that first exchange landed, the Grand Eunuch’s face twisted in shock.

The dagger had come at him with a completely different speed than before, and the force behind it was nothing like he remembered either. Since he knew the opponent’s level hadn’t changed much, it didn’t take him long to figure out what was going on.

“You think burning your Innate Life Force makes a difference when you’re still just a bug?!”

Clang!

Just as the Grand Eunuch had guessed, the Pavilion Lord was burning through his Innate Life Force with reckless abandon. His silent promise that things would be different this time around wasn’t because he thought his actual skills had improved.

Clang!

The Pavilion Lord knew full well how outmatched they were with this old bastard in their presence.

From the moment he spotted the old coot, Pavilion Lord had marched into the battlefield with mutual destruction in mind.

‘It is different this time. All I have to do is make sure the Vice Pavilion Lord gets out alive!’

Last time, he had desperately clung to life just so he could deliver the intel they had bled for back to headquarters. But tonight was different.

To avenge the subordinates who had laid down their lives so he could escape, and to permanently erase a master who could threaten the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult in the future, the Pavilion Lord was more than happy to burn his own life force to ashes.

But reality was cruel.

“Hmph. A bug that wriggles is still just a bug.”

Every strike carrying that life force was blocked by the Grand Eunuch’s sword without fail.

The moment the Grand Eunuch realized the opponent was burning Innate Life Force, he stopped pressing recklessly and simply played it safe.

He watched the rapidly aging Pavilion Lord with a condescending smirk sitting on his lips the whole time. He knew that if he just stalled a little longer, the Innate Life Force would run dry on its own, and the man would drop dead without him having to lift a finger.

Meanwhile.

Clang!

Things were unfolding in much the same way on the other side.

‘I have to kill this bastard fast and help the Pavilion Lord!!

Seo Wan-pyeong had caught on that the Pavilion Lord was burning Innate Life Force, and was hammering the eunuch with relentless offense. But for someone trained in the arts of assassination, impatience was poison.

The letter-carrying eunuch realized the situation as well and played it safe for a while before suddenly unleashing a quick counter-strike to Seo Wan-pyeong’s reckless advance, landing him a solid hit that opened a long gash on Seo Wan-pyeong’s forearm.

Slash.

The pain radiating up his arm made Seo Wan-pyeong’s face twist, but it was the pain in his chest that was really eating at him.

‘Why am I so damn useless…’

If it had been their late Master standing here in his place, or even their youngest, things wouldn’t have come to this.

Consumed by the sudden surge of a Heart Demon feeding on his insecurities, Seo Wan-pyeong’s sword grip wavered.

Slash.

The eunuch caught the opening and left another wound on Seo Wan-pyeong’s shoulder.

Just as Seo Wan-pyeong was about to drown in self-loathing—

Pat!

A hidden weapon came flying from the side and intercepted the eunuch as he moved in for another strike.

Clang!

—Focus on the mission!!

Slash.

Right as the Pavilion Lord’s voice transmission rang in his head, the sickening sound of flesh being carved open echoed through the forest.

In the moment spent throwing that weapon to help Seo Wan-pyeong, the Grand Eunuch had taken the opportunity to slash right across the Lord’s arm.

The Pavilion Lord had thrown himself backward just in time to keep his arm from being cleanly lopped off, but he was still left with a gruesome gash.

—Cast aside those useless thoughts and focus solely on the greater good of the Divine Cult! If I can die for the Divine Cult, my life is not a thing I’ll begrudge!

Even with a deep gash running down his arm, the Pavilion Lord held Seo Wan-pyeong’s gaze and sent the transmission.

“…”

In the span of less than a quarter-hour, the Pavilion Lord had aged by at least ten years. Seo Wan-pyeong gave a small nod in response to the transmission.

But even after that, Seo Wan-pyeong kept pressing with aggressive moves. He swung his sword in a manner that looked almost frantic, like he was still being driven by that same desperation, and after trading several exchanges, cuts were steadily piling up on Seo Wan-pyeong’s body.

Slash..

As the eunuch moved to exploit yet another opening, he belatedly realized that he had been had by Seo Wan-pyeong.

Unlike before, the eyes of the man he was fighting were completely calm.

Seo Wan-pyeong turned his body with the barest effort so the sword would miss his vital organs.

Crunch.

The eunuch’s sword drove into Seo Wan-pyeong’s body, but it hadn’t hit anything vital.

Simultaneously, his right hand erupted with the Shadowless Fourteen Moves, carving a lethal arc straight toward the bastard’s head.

Slick!

He had been intentionally feeding the eunuch openings to lull him into a false sense of security. It had cost him several deep wounds, but it was the most logical and efficient way to end the fight right then and there.

As Seo Wan-pyeong quickly decapitated the eunuch and frantically searched the corpse for the letter.

“You filthy Demonic Cult bastards!!”

The Grand Eunuch had had enough of playing and completely changed his stance.

Refusing to let either of them leave this forest alive, he began swinging his sword in earnest. Unlike the quiet exchanges up until now, Sword Force poured off the Grand Eunuch’s sword in a relentless torrent.

The Pavilion Lord immediately threw his body in front of Seo Wan-pyeong to shield him without any regard for his own life.

BOOM!!

Explosion after explosion shook the air.

“Cough…”

The Dark Shadow Pavilion Lord had managed to hold back the Grand Eunuch’s assault, but coughed up a mouthful of blood. His hair had turned completely white and was falling out in clumps, while his skin had become so deeply wrinkled that liver spots were rapidly breaking out across his flesh.

With almost no Innate Life Force left, the Pavilion Lord had nothing more to give. The Grand Eunuch stepped in and thrust his sword.

Crunch!

“Ugh…”

The Pavilion Lord collapsed with a strangled groan as the sword pierced his heart.

Meanwhile, Seo Wan-pyeong snatched up the letter and threw himself into the darkness.

“You—!!”

The Grand Eunuch ripped his sword free and immediately tried to run after Seo Wan-pyeong. But then—

Grab.

Something latched onto him.

“The Heavenly Demon… Descends.”

The Grand Eunuch spun around in shock to find the collapsed Pavilion Lord was reaching out and gripping his leg with one hand.

“Ten Thousand Demons… Obeys!”

Gathering every last drop of his fading strength, the Pavilion Lord drove his dagger through the Grand Eunuch’s right thigh.

Crunch.

The searing agony of it flooded the Grand Eunuch’s eyes with red.

“HOW DARE YOU FILTHY INSECTS!!!”

Il-mok couldn’t find a single word to say after hearing the whole story.

“…”

Seo Wan-pyeong watched him for a moment, then gave a weary smile.

“Don’t look so grim. Thanks to the Pavilion Lord, I made it back here in one piece. Come on, let’s look at this letter. We can’t let the Pavilion Lord’s sacrifice be in vain.”

With that, Seo Wan-pyeong unfolded the letter and the two of them read through it together.

The contents were baffling at first glance.

“This is written in Eastern Depot cipher.”

Thankfully, after spending so much time hunting down the Eastern Depot, Seo Wan-pyeong was able to crack the cipher with relative ease.

What was written inside was shocking.

It was a directive to send people north, to drive out the nomads and bandits and search for any traces of the Maitreya Luminous Cult.

“Well, that confirms it. The Alliance Leader is definitely in bed with the Eastern Depot.”

“Indeed. I can’t believe it. Not only Deung Bi, but even the Alliance Leader is a lapdog for the Imperial Family.”

Il-mok caught something in those words and frowned.

“What do you mean by that, Third Brother? The former Chief Elder was a dog of the Imperial Family?”

The question made Seo Wan-pyeong’s expression freeze in panic.

‘Don’t tell me Master and Eldest Brother actually kept this a secret from the youngest?’

The Dark Shadow Pavilion had been ordered to keep Deung Bi’s connection to the Imperial Family a secret, but Seo Wan-pyeong had naturally assumed they would have told the youngest.

He detailed how, while digging into the late Deung Bi’s background, they found hard evidence linking him to the Imperial Family.

“Look, your Third Brother here isn’t the smartest. I don’t know why Master and Eldest Brother kept you in the dark, but I’m sure they had a good reason.”

Seo Wan-pyeong tried to run damage control to prevent any hurt feelings, but Il-mok wasn’t actually upset at all.

‘So Master and Eldest Brother already knew it wasn’t the right time.’

He had immediately figured out exactly why they kept it under wraps.

The Imperial Family had planted spies within the Divine Cult and run all sorts of conspiracies against them. The second that information went public, the Cult’s massive army of religious fanatics would start screaming for a full-scale war against the Imperial Family.

Even with the absolute authority of the Heavenly Demon or the Cult Leader, forcibly silencing the outrage of an entire Cult of zealots was nearly impossible. And backing down from a fight after a blatant provocation like that would have gone against everything the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult stood for.

While Il-mok was piecing together his Master and Eldest Brother’s intentions, Seo Wan-pyeong was still worried about his youngest brother’s feelings, so he quickly changed the subject.

“Something does strike me as strange, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m trying to understand what the Imperial Family was actually thinking for them pulling strings in both the Martial Alliance and our Cult at the same time.”

“Well, they were probably trying to bring both the Divine Cult and the Martial Alliance under their control at once.”

“That’s exactly my point. Let’s say everything went perfectly according to their plan and Deung Bi actually became the Cult Leader. What then? Just because he’s sitting on the throne doesn’t mean the rest of the Cult would ever bow down to the Martial Alliance or the Imperial Family.”

“Indeed. Even if he had become the Heavenly Demon himself rather than just the Cult Leader, I doubt it would work as intended.”

The hatred of the Divine Cult’s believers toward the Imperial Family and the Orthodox Faction forces that had branded them rebels and driven them out to Xinjiang ran so deep that Il-mok doubted the feasibility of that theory even if Deung Bi succeeded as the Cult Leader. His reign would be riddled with rebels and his hands would be busy with countless incoming purges for the years to come.

The same goes for the Orthodox Faction.

They had always treated the Martial Alliance as nothing more than a mediator. Even if the Alliance Leader started preaching about how they should all become obedient lapdogs for the Imperial Family, not a single person would have listened to him.

‘Even if the Imperial Family’s spies had climbed to both the top of the Martial Alliance and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the odds of either faction actually becoming the Imperial Family’s dogs are low. So then, why would they bother?’

Il-mok turned the question over and over in his mind, and then changed his perspective.

‘What if they never actually wanted the loyalty of the Alliance or the Cult in the first place?’

The moment he started working through that train of thought, a horrifying possibility surfaced in his mind.

“…A grand plan to exterminate the martial world.”