Chapter 364

Chapter 364: Truth (4)

The agonizing shrieks that had echoed across the plains for hours at last fell silent.

The agent who had previously received a violent backhand stepped up to the elderly supervisor once more to deliver his findings.

“Forgive me, Grand Eunuch. It appears the women and children possessed no information whatsoever. The village leader we seized alive was equally ignorant.”

“Tsk. Locate the next settlement immediately. If you blunder like this again, I will personally ensure every one of you is executed.”

“Understood!”

The moment the Grand Eunuch uttered his warning, the operatives of the Eastern Depot acted in flawless harmony. They disposed of the unconscious women and children who had succumbed to the brutal questioning, packed their gear, and advanced westward along the visible tracks.

However, they failed to recognize a fundamental difference between these northern nomads and the inhabitants of the Central Plains.

The nomadic tribes never remained settled in a single location for long.

After half a day spent tracking the hoofprints left by the youngster who had fled on horseback, they discovered the cold remnants of a campsite that had sheltered roughly fifty individuals late into the night.

“Grand Eunuch, these signs were left only a few hours ago.”

Completely ignorant of the migratory patterns of the steppes, the Grand Eunuch merely darkened his brow and barked a sharp directive.

“Begin the hunt. Immediately.”

Adhering to his command, they endured another exhausting half-day pursuing the path across the open country. As the morning light broke and illuminated the dim fields, they finally caught sight of the retreating nomads riding frantically in the distance.

“Overtake them!”

The Eastern Depot agents drove their mounts forward relentlessly. They pushed the carriage steeds used for their merchant cover and the animals seized from the plundered nomads to their absolute breaking points.

As the sun climbed higher, the nomads realized they were being pursued and began driving their own beasts even harder.

It turned into a bizarre race, entirely unlike anything the Grand Eunuch or his subordinates had ever encountered. They could spot the nomads clearly across the flat landscape, and the nomads could see them just as easily, yet the distance separating the two groups remained agonizingly constant.

‘Curse it all.’

The Grand Eunuch’s face contorted with rage.

He had not anticipated that their entire operation would falter so spectacularly just because a single youngster had eluded them. In truth, he had never even considered the possibility of a child escaping. It had simply never occurred to him that a mere nomad youth could possess the equestrian skills required to leave the elite martial artists of the Eastern Depot trailing in the dust.

Witnessing the Grand Eunuch’s fury, the Eastern Depot agents ground their teeth and whipped their mounts with greater ferocity.

The pursuit dragged on. Soon, a shadow of despair fell over the faces of the operatives.

The horses were losing strength, and their velocity plummeted dramatically.

While the men trembled in anticipation of the Grand Eunuch’s wrath, an unexpected command passed his lips.

“Dismount! Deploy your lightness techniques and pursue them on foot! Their mounts are just as exhausted as ours, making this the ideal moment to strike!”

The agents’ eyes flashed with renewed hope at the directive. They leapt from their saddles and propelled themselves forward utilizing their agility skills. The Grand Eunuch himself was already airborne, surging ahead of his subordinates and closing in on the fleeing targets.

Just as the Grand Eunuch had calculated, the gap between them began to shrink at a much faster rate.

However, just as the Grand Eunuch managed to slash the distance roughly in half, a sudden complication arose.

Realizing their mounts could run no further, the nomads suddenly scattered in every direction and fled wildly.

Taken aback by the sudden dispersion, the Grand Eunuch channeled his inner vitality into his throat and bellowed a command.

“Divide your forces and hunt them down!”

With the order issued, the Grand Eunuch locked his gaze onto his primary target and accelerated forward with explosive velocity. His chosen quarry was the enigmatic figure concealing their face behind the wrathful visage of the Four Heavenly Kings mask.

He felt entirely certain that this individual possessed a direct link to the Maitreya Luminous Cult, prompting the Grand Eunuch to exert every ounce of his strength to capture them alive.

By the time the Grand Eunuch closed the distance to the masked rider, the remaining nomads had already scattered across the horizon. Across the vast wilderness, the shouts and wails of fleeing tribespeople and pursuing Eastern Depot agents resonated from all sides.

“Haaaah!”

He was within arm’s reach. The Grand Eunuch finally erased the remaining distance and extended his hand to seize the masked rider when—

Thud.

The masked figure abruptly pitched forward from the saddle and crashed violently into the dirt.

The Grand Eunuch hurried forward in alarm to inspect the body. The individual’s neck had broken during the fall, causing instantaneous death. Yet upon closer inspection, he detected dark, thick blood seeping from beneath the edges of the facial disguise.

The fanatic had bitten down on a concealed toxin capsule to take his own life.

“You miserable wretches!!”

Fuming with rage, the Grand Eunuch pushed his agility technique to its absolute limits to capture at least one of the remaining targets, but the other nomads had already put a substantial amount of ground between themselves and him.

The operative had intentionally delayed his suicide until the final possible moment, solely to guarantee his companions enough time to disperse safely.

Eventually, the Eastern Depot agents who had scattered across the plains began trudging back to the staging area. When they counted the corpses and the living prisoners, the total barely exceeded twenty individuals.

Given that the nomadic band had initially consisted of over fifty members, this elite unit of warriors had failed to secure even half of their targets.

“You incompetent fools!!!”

The Grand Eunuch’s piercing tirade echoed repeatedly across the quiet landscape. The Eastern Depot agents kept their gazes fixed on the ground, remaining silent as they quaked where they stood.

“Throw those women and children into the wagon. We depart immediately. We will locate the next settlement and perform our interrogations on the move.”

After delivering his instructions and observing his men scramble to obey, the Grand Eunuch stood apart from the group, anxiously biting at his thumbnail.

“This was an opportunity I barely managed to secure. A chance to win the favor of the Supreme Eunuch!!”

He was consumed by the dread of failing this mission and losing his title as the Eastern Depot Director back to Eunuch Bang.

Once the mounts and wagons were organized, the Eastern Depot contingent resumed their march. Most of the horses acquired from the previous village had broken away during the frantic pursuit, but they had secured fresh beasts from the nomads they managed to capture.

The women and children, their internal energy channels blocked by sealed pressure points, were confined to the wagons. The operatives took turns resting in brief shifts to claim what little sleep they could manage. Those who remained awake guided the horses and wagons while tracking the trail, occasionally dragging a woman or child out to resume the agonizing questioning.

By this stage, the activity had nothing to do with gathering intelligence regarding the Maitreya Luminous Cult. Neither the women nor the youngsters possessed any knowledge of the Cult’s covert operations, a reality every agent understood deep down. They were merely venting the frustration of a failing campaign onto individuals incapable of defending themselves.

Several days passed as they traversed the desolate wilderness.

No matter how extensively they searched, they failed to uncover a single active nomadic camp. Their efforts yielded nothing but the cold remains of hearths that had been vacated shortly before their arrival.

Eventually, the number of living prisoners available for interrogation dwindled to a final three, and the provisions and water supplies plundered from the initial tribe were on the verge of total depletion.

“Grand Eunuch. Figures are approaching.”

Far across the barren horizon, a group of roughly thirty horsemen was advancing directly toward their position.

“They could be the individuals responsible for eliminating the spies from the Martial Alliance.”

Upon hearing his subordinate’s assessment, the heavy dread clouding the Grand Eunuch’s expression vanished instantly, replaced by a look bordering on sinister delight.

“Hehehe. To think our quarry would walk straight into our grasp of their own volition. It appears destiny has not forsaken me quite yet.”

The Grand Eunuch harbored no fear whatsoever. Among the various combatants within the Martial Alliance, with the sole exception of the Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong, there was not a single warrior capable of matching his prowess.

Unless the individual approaching was the Martial Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong himself, there was absolutely nothing to apprehend.

“Since they are so determined to meet their end, let us pause here briefly and await the arrival of these idiots.”

Observing that his operatives were thoroughly spent from their grueling journey, the Grand Eunuch graciously permitted a brief respite. As the opposing force drew near, the men stood to face them.

“You wretched filth!! How dare you slaughter innocent lives!!”

A lone warrior bellowed from the front of the advancing pack, charging directly at their line at full speed.

“Hmph.”

An Eastern Depot operative smirked disdainfully and dashed forward to confront the attacker head-on.

“Keep at least half of them breathing. We require their information.”

The Grand Eunuch shouted the warning just before the blades clashed.

Slick!

Immediately following his words, the sound of tearing flesh and metal echoed across the plain.

It was the sound of the Eastern Depot agent being sliced cleanly in half alongside his own weapon.

The massive blade wielded by the warrior who had charged forward like a demon had cleaved the agent apart with effortless precision.

Only in that moment did the Grand Eunuch realize they had committed a catastrophic error in judgment.

“So you are the commander of these sycophants!!”

The assailant detected the Grand Eunuch’s superior energy signature in an instant and surged directly toward him. Before he even reached his target, destructive Sword Force was already swirling around his massive blade.

The Grand Eunuch hastily gathered his own Sword Force and swung his weapon to block the impending strike.

BOOM!

A violent shockwave erupted from the impact.

The Grand Eunuch was propelled backward three full paces, utterly defeated in the contest of raw strength.

“Ugh.”

As the Grand Eunuch swallowed a groan and gritted his teeth, the masked assailant pressed the advantage without pause.

“Atone for the atrocities committed against those helpless people!!”

The Grand Eunuch barely managed to deflect the unrelenting sequence of strikes, and when parrying failed, he cast his pride aside and rolled across the dirt to evade the lethal blows. After enduring several intense exchanges, he let out a sharp cry of recognition.

“You! You are Dokgo Ryong of the Demonic Cult!!!”

Because he was collaborating closely with the Supreme Eunuch on the strategy to dismantle the factions of the martial world, he was highly familiar with the prominent figures of the Demonic Cult.

The adversary’s astonishingly advanced martial prowess, his distinctive greatsword, and his remarkably direct combat style made it simple for the Grand Eunuch to discern the warrior’s true identity.

“Ha! And your group is nothing but the imperial court’s gelded lackeys! What purpose do a pack of eunuchs have trespassing in these lands!!”

Stung by Dokgo Ryong’s mocking insult, the Grand Eunuch lashed out with his blade, his eyes burning with fury.

Yet rage alone could not bridge the chasm in their abilities.

Though both occupied an elite tier of martial mastery, Dokgo Ryong was clearly superior to the Grand Eunuch.

Furthermore, the situation around them was deteriorating rapidly.

“Gaaagh!”

The Eastern Depot operatives who had journeyed north alongside the Grand Eunuch were falling one by one to the fanatical warriors of the Demonic Cult.

‘This is a disaster.’

The Grand Eunuch recognized that his survival was hanging by a thread, and just as the realization struck him, Dokgo Ryong’s massive blade descended once more.

“Keep your eyes on your opponent!!”

The Grand Eunuch barely managed to alter the trajectory of the strike, finding himself forced backward yet again.

He watched Dokgo Ryong mount another ferocious charge, prompting him to dive laterally to seek cover behind the wagon holding the captive women and children.

The moment he took this position, Dokgo Ryong had no alternative but to violently alter his blade’s path at the final instant to avoid harming the captives.

That brief hesitation revealed everything the Grand Eunuch needed to know.

Clang!

As Dokgo Ryong’s diverted weapon slammed heavily into the earth, the Grand Eunuch was already capitalizing on the moment. He lunged forward and grabbed a young child from the wagon with his left hand.

“You contemptible vermin, how dare you!!”

The murderous rage burning within Dokgo Ryong’s eyes flared so intensely it could be perceived even through the fierce Heavenly King mask.

Yet regardless of Dokgo Ryong’s fury, every time the massive blade swung toward him, the Grand Eunuch thrust the child forward to serve as a human shield.

Each time, Dokgo Ryong was forced to wrench his weapon away to avoid striking the youngster.

“Using an innocent youth as protection!! You absolute degenerate!!”

Dokgo Ryong’s fierce vitriol failed to shake the Grand Eunuch’s resolve in the slightest.

Instead, he abruptly hurled the youngster directly at Dokgo Ryong’s face while springing backward to retreat. As he launched himself away, he swung his blade through the air, sending a lethal arc of Sword Qi flying toward the child he had just thrown.

Clang!!

Dokgo Ryong desperately deflected the incoming Sword Qi with his greatsword and lunged forward to safely catch the falling child.

Whoosh.

Within that fleeting moment, the Grand Eunuch had already turned his back on the battlefield, using his lightness technique to sprint away at maximum velocity, abandoning every remaining Eastern Depot agent without a single parting glance.

“Eliminate the remaining survivors! I will track that piece of garbage to the edges of the world and cut him down!!”

Dokgo Ryong set the child gently upon the ground, then transformed into an avatar of pure vengeance as he bolted after the fleeing Grand Eunuch.