Chapter 335

Chapter 335
## Chapter 335. Division (2)

—

Crimson sprayed through the air. Shrieks echoed in every direction. Sabers shattered, and craters in the soil, blasted apart by concussive palm strikes, exposed the raw earth beneath.

Absolute chaos.

It was a hellscape in the truest sense. Individuals who had been allies, rivals, and peers just the day before were now bitter adversaries, pointing lethal steel at one another. A deep rift had formed between the Orthodox Society and the White Road Society, and while the White Road Society and the 12 Peaks Stars monitored each other warily, these were all martial artists who normally shared banter on a daily basis. On lighter days, someone would reach into their purse and buy rounds of liquor without caring about factions. They would jokingly vow to best one another eventually, or jest that it would take nearly two centuries for that to happen.

Now, those very same people were trying to butcher one another. They lunged with their blades out of sheer survival instincts, sustaining terrible gashes from the palm blasts exploding around them. They could no longer recall how the initial spark caught fire, or what had triggered the slaughter. It was simply that everyone had suffered some misfortune, and upon gathering back, they laid the blame for their grievances upon each other.

“Desist from this madness, please!”

Exhortations infused with Buddhist energy thundered across the field, yet the combatants merely paused for a fraction of a second before resuming their frenzy. He had not realized it until now. He had not understood that profound spiritual enlightenment offered no leverage when people faced immediate, life-threatening panic. Now he saw the truth. Instead of stopping the clash, he had inadvertently drawn the entire battlefield’s focus directly onto himself. Every lethal arrow was now aimed his way.

“Il-gak is over there!”

The desperate bid to halt the violence had instead shifted the focal point of the carnage without warning. Members of the Orthodox Society, locked in a brutal struggle against the combined forces of the White Road Society and the 12 Peaks Stars, began retreating toward Il-gak to form a defensive line. Seeing the battle lines harden so starkly around him, Il-gak cried out in sheer bewilderment.

“Stop! Benefactor Geum, why are you bringing your forces toward me!”

“Monk Il-gak! If we do not crush them this instant, none of us will leave this place alive!”

“No, what in heaven’s name is happening…! Get away from me!”

In the first place, how could students of the same academy turn on each other like this? Was there truly not a single soul who grasped the peril of their situation now that the instructors were missing?

“The Orthodox Society is rallying around Il-gak!”

“Launch a synchronized assault!”

“Take down Il-gak first!”

Il-gak’s companions, who had merely been observing from the fringe, were suddenly thrust into the absolute epicenter of the conflict. Even though Il-gak had zero desire to engage, he was forced to circulate his internal energy against his own volition.

*I must neutralize them with minimal harm…*

Any further bloodshed here would only drive the crowd into deeper madness. He needed to incapacitate as many as possible to quiet their frantic hearts and restore order. Bracing himself, Il-gak moved to intercept an academy student charging at him by executing the Ssang-swae-gong (Double-Chaining Skill).

However,

“Die, you bald idiot!!!”

At that exact second, his intent to moderate his power crumbled because of a particular word, causing him to accidentally unleash far too much force.

*Thud.*

…The result was the charging student being driven violently into the bedrock.

*Oh, heavens!*

“I—I didn’t mean to…!”

“Cough!”

Watching the youth collapse while hacking up crimson pools, a panicked Il-gak frantically tried to clarify the accident.

“I—it is a terrible misunderstanding! This happened because Benefactor Jin constantly teases me with that word…”

Yet the onlookers who witnessed the strike ground their teeth, deaf to any explanations.

“Even as a member of the Orthodox Society, for a disciple of the Shaolin Temple to employ such vicious force…!”

“This is the ultimate proof! This whole disaster was clearly a conspiracy engineered by the Orthodox Society to wipe us out!”

“We have shown enough restraint! Charge!”

Consequently, pinned by an onslaught that broke over him like a tidal wave, Il-gak found himself frantically parrying blows, left with absolutely no room to voice an excuse. No matter how superior his cultivation was, his adversaries were still exceptionally trained academy students. The synchronized formations they deployed were not something even a master of Il-gak’s caliber could easily suppress without lethal intent. Naturally, the Orthodox Society wasn’t about to watch their vanguard be overwhelmed either.

“Defend Monk Il-gak!”

“Do not dare underestimate the might of the Orthodox Society!”

Whether he willed it or not, Il-gak, having become the axis of the war, was forced to step up the intensity of his techniques.

*Th—this is spiraling out of control!*

With Il-gak fully embroiled, the ferocity of the clash reached an entirely new level. The chaotic three-sided melee slowly hardened into a bitter, binary war between the Orthodox Society and every other faction on the field.

“Aaaaah! I’ll tear you apart!”

“I will end your life!”

The shouts, which had initially been limited to venomous insults, were now thick with genuine murderous intent. The suffocating bloodlust permeating the area finally drove them to strike exclusively at mortal vitals.

In that desperate instant, where he was utterly paralyzed by indecision—

—*What in the world are you doing, baldhead!*

He caught the distinct voice of the very troublemaker who always provoked him, the one responsible for shattering his inner peace at the worst possible moments.

“Jin Si-ju?”

The tone, typically laced with a rogue’s arrogance, boomed across his mind with an even greater level of raw irritation.

—*Do you honestly think we have the luxury to be slaughtering one another right now! Is this truly the limit of your capabilities, baldhead!*

Il-gak shook his head in frantic denial.

“Y—you misunderstand, Jin Si-ju. I am absolutely not trying to…”

—*Then what the hell do you call this?*

What…? Was the man actually holding a conversation with him? Right in the middle of this catastrophic brawl?

There was no window to harbor such doubts. The urgency of the moment left no room for contemplation.

“I attempted to reason with them once they calmed down, but everyone has completely lost their sanity…”

—*For someone claiming that, you sure are putting on a grand performance down there.*

“B—but surely you see it as well, Jin Si-ju? This isn’t a crisis where anyone will listen, no matter how much I beg them to halt…”

—*It’s not that you couldn’t make them stop. It’s that your strikes were far too soft.*

“What do you mean by…”

Suddenly, the mental connection (*Jeon-eum*) cut off. In its place.

“You absolute bastards!!!!”

A shattering Lion’s Roar (*Saja-hoo*) reverberated across the entirety of the Muk-rim. Every single gaze instinctively locked onto the sky where the sound originated. A figure clad in pitch-black martial robes tore through the air, descending squarely into the absolute center of the melee.

*Thump.*

Despite the abrupt entrance of Jin-so-un, the warring students didn’t panic. They merely perceived him as another adversary thrown into the meat grinder. However, the true complication arose from the fact that…

“Jin-so-un! I’ll slaughter you!”

“Kill that arrogant bastard!”

“Jin-so-un! You’re dead meat!”

All three factions simultaneously branded Jin-so-un as their primary target. Witnessing this, Il-gak could only shake his head in dismay.

*Jin Si-ju has miscalculated out of sheer hubris.*

Did he truly believe the academy students would lay down their arms the moment he showed his face? There were still countless individuals within the Murim Academy who refused to recognize his authority as Representative. Jin-so-un’s intervention here was a reckless gambit. It would have been far wiser to leverage his intellect by stepping in only after the exhaustion of the battle had forced a lull.

Regardless of whether he realized this, Jin-so-un growled with predatory ferocity.

“Who do you think you’re going to kill?”

Slipping past a blade aimed squarely at his skull, Jin-so-un whipped his own weapon around in a vicious arc.

*Crack!*

He had deliberately connected with the flat of his blade, yet the impact cracked so violently that even the students rushing from the flanks froze in horror. Shards of white enamel and crimson sprayed from the target’s mouth. Yet Jin-so-un’s assault didn’t pause for a breath.

“You want to kill me?”

*Thud!*

Delivering a brutal kick into the abdomen of the collapsing youth, Jin-so-un began hammering the precise areas calculated to inflict the most agonizing torment.

“Aaaaaaaaaargh!”

Trapped in an agony that felt as if his skeleton was being pried apart and his pathways torn to shreds, the student collapsed, shrieking in a manner far more wretched than if he had been pierced by steel. At that horrific display, the academy students charging Jin-so-un instinctively halted in their tracks.

But this time, Jin-so-un went on the offensive.

“You bastards dare aim for my life!!!”

The students watched in sheer terror as Jin-so-un lunged at them like a wrathful specter, his weapon radiating an eerie, blood-crimson light. They attempted to scatter, but their reflexes were a beat too slow.

“Where do you think you’re fleeing!”

*Boom!*

The concussive force delivered to the runner’s midsection was so immense that the youth’s body left the ground entirely, the agonizing impact stealing the breath right out of his lungs.

*Whish.*

Yet, instead of letting the body hurtle away like a projectile, Jin-so-un snared him back using the Flying Dragon Claw (*Bi-ryong-jo*) bursting from his left hand.

“Cough! N—no!”

With a heavy fist that dislodged two more teeth, the student was driven face-first into the dirt.

“You worthless fools!!! Is this truly the time for us to be drawing each other’s blood!!!”

Accompanied by his deafening shout, a relentless thrashing with the flat of his blade ensued.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!”

Just like the first, the student shrieked from an excruciating torment that felt as though his very nerves were being set ablaze—an agony far more devastating than a simple blade wound. Slowly, the surrounding skirmishes began to fizzle out as everyone turned their eyes toward Jin-so-un.

“Th—that’s Jin-so-un. Shouldn’t we band together to take him down?”

“…Go right ahead then.”

As they shifted the burden back and forth, Jin-so-un pounced on a third target, initiating an unmerciful beating.

“I asked if you think we have the luxury to be slaughtering one another right now!!!”

“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!”

The third casualty wailed as if he were seeing the afterlife.

“Is it sensible to butcher one another when we remain entirely ignorant of what is unfolding across the Muk-rim!!!!”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!”

The fourth target foamed at the mouth and blacked out completely.

“Desist!!! I told you to stop fighting!!!”

“I—I yield!”

“Uwaaaaaaargh!”

The fifth victim threw his saber to the ground in total surrender, yet he still lost two teeth to a stray blow.

“Cease this madness, you fools!!! This is no time for internal warfare!!!”

“W—we stopped! We stopped, so please, Jin-so-un…”

“Your glare is still full of venom, so how can you claim you’ve stopped!”

“N—no!!”

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

It had been quite some time since the broader conflict had ground to a complete halt, silenced entirely by the horrific wails echoing across the clearing. Jin-so-un’s disciplinary thrashing only subsided after an eighth victim had been thoroughly broken. Straightening up, Jin-so-un directed his burning gaze toward the bald head that was currently glistening with nervous perspiration.

“If you intend to break up a fight, you do it properly.”

“……”

As Il-gak watched him walk over to his side to dump his irritation—

*Namo Amitabha…*

He was left profoundly bewildered as to whether that brutal display had truly been enacted to restore order, or if it was simply a calculated release of the man’s pent-up fury.

The encampment was choked with the chaotic aftermath of people who had been trying to butcher one another. The very first piece of intelligence gleaned after forcefully restoring order was thoroughly grim.

“The instructors never arrived?”

“We checked for their presence the moment we reached the perimeter, but there was no sign of them. We questioned those who arrived first, but they confirmed they hadn’t seen a single instructor either.”

My thoughts grew heavy at Il-gak’s report. Given that I hadn’t encountered any of the instructors’ corpses on my trek here, I had taken it for granted that they would be holding the base… Where on earth could they be? Had they been wiped out?

Yet there was no luxury to analyze this deeply. An even more alarming piece of news was brought to light. The second grim revelation concerned the crimson beacons that had illuminated the Muk-rim.

“So it was indeed a coordinated ambush.”

And it was executed by actual martial artists, not wild beasts. To make matters worse, it appeared that the vast majority of the squads that had ignited those emergency flares had yet to make it back to safety.

“It appears the paranoia exploded because of that specific detail.”

“No, but why?”

Even if they had been caught in an ambush, turning their blades on one another… no matter how I looked at it, it defied all logic, didn’t it?

“A survivor gave an account stating that the martial styles used by the attackers perfectly mirrored those of the Mount Hua Sect…”

“…Is that verified?”

Even hearing it out loud, I couldn’t suppress my skepticism. What possible motive would Mount Hua—or rather, the Orthodox Society—have to strike down the 12 Peaks Stars inside the depths of the Muk-rim?

“That remains a mystery. The sole practitioner who managed to return lost consciousness right after whispering the word ‘petals,’ and he has yet to awaken.”

Cheol-sun-jik, propped against a boulder, contributed to the conversation without unlinking his arms. I turned my attention toward him.

“Why did you simply stand there and watch?”

“If one wishes to communicate, the other party must possess the sanity to comprehend, Representative Jin.”

“With your strength, you could have easily suppressed this skirmish.”

Cheol-sun-jik unlinked his arms and offered a careless shrug.

“Because there was absolutely no incentive to do so.”

Why is this guy acting even more insufferable than usual today?

“Besides, perhaps the Orthodox Society viewed this as the perfect window to purge the 12 Peaks Stars. Granted, their execution was rather sloppy.”

“…The Orthodox Society has never harbored such treacherous intent.”

“If I were a commander within the Orthodox Society, I would certainly keep Monk Il-gak completely in the dark when orchestrating such a plot.”

“What are you implying by…”

“Because he is not someone who operates on pragmatic ruthlessness.”

“……”

Why are even these two trying to instigate a fight now? Don’t tell me they are itching for me to give them the same treatment. I extended a hand to sever the brewing argument.

“Drop it. Nothing has been verified yet—”

“To be perfectly objective, the root of this entire calamity traces back to the Orthodox Society.”

“What?”

“I am aware that the Orthodox Society went out to hunt a Spirit. Consequently, the malignancy of that entity broke loose, and isn’t the reality now that every creature in the Muk-rim is hunting us down?”

As Cheol-sun-jik’s frigid words cut through the air, the expressions of the surrounding Orthodox Society members warped with fury.

“Masking their own blunders while systematically erasing their political opposition—from a certain perspective, this situation might be the greatest windfall the Orthodox Society could ask for.”

The Orthodox Society disciples who were listening to our dialogue from the periphery erupted, hurling furious curses.

“What kind of absolute garbage are you spewing!”

“What could we possibly gain that would drive us to…”

Unexplained anomalies naturally cultivate terror, and terror rapidly festers and transforms into raw rage. That unchecked rage was on the verge of turning back into cold steel, ready to pierce flesh once more.

*Is this exactly what the masterminds intended?*

They were green, entirely unaccustomed to true life-or-death crises. Yet, paradoxically, in terms of raw combative power, they operated at a tier that far eclipsed ordinary warriors. The dread of the encroaching unknown, coupled with a psyche eroded by that very dread, would inevitably fabricate a phantom foe out of thin air. Hadn’t the current state of affairs already demonstrated that the trap had succeeded this far?

*I need to shatter this psychological deadlock immediately.*

If this razor-sharp hostility isn’t broken by force, madness will consume them again within moments. And next time, it won’t stop at mere bruises and lacerations; actual corpses will start piling up. If it reaches that threshold—

*From that moment on, there will be no turning back.*

I refuse to let us be manipulated by such a primitive deception. I drew an immense breath into my lungs.

“STOOOOOOOOOP!!!”

As the full power of my Lion’s Roar blasted outward, every single person clamped their hands over their ears, grimacing in pain.

“Drop your weapons! Do you all possess a burning desire to be beaten into the dirt!”

“……”

I had to reassert control before their panic could fragment their focus again.

“Not a single piece of evidence has been verified. So cease your wild assumptions and focus on your immediate duties. Assemble a reconnaissance detail, have the remaining able-bodied personnel tend to the wounded, and begin erecting a defensive wooden perimeter around this camp.”

“Right now, the Orthodox Society is being branded as traitors! Do you honestly expect us to just sit back and take this slander!”

True, it must feel incredibly unjust. I grasped completely how maddening it was to be scrutinized like a criminal for an offense they hadn’t committed.

“Do you wish to be broken like those fools over there?”

“……”

Ah, my internal calculations and my spoken words accidentally swapped places. No matter, it’s trivial, so let’s press on.

“Do you honestly believe this is the moment to whine about fairness? Exercise your minds and operate with cold, calculated rationality!”

“With cold rationality…?”

Their faces betrayed a profound reluctance to accept the directive, but I completely ignored their grievances.

“Get a move on, now! The sun is already dipping below the horizon!”

Those who were lingering indecisively finally began to stir once Il-gak and Cheol-sun-jik took the lead. They still maintained a wary vigilance toward one another, but at the very least, it was a massive improvement over pointing bare steel at each other’s throats.

Predictably, daylight failed before even a fraction of the designated tasks could be completed. The martial artists from the Southern Fist Sect along with the scout units trickled back empty-handed. There were endless matters requiring my attention—crafting contingency strategies, hunting for other scattered squads, and establishing a link with the missing instructors—but my mind simply refused to function properly.

*I am utterly exhausted.*

Having gone entirely without rest during our forced march, I allowed my eyelids to drop for just a brief second. However, I was violently jolted back to reality by a frantic grip clamping onto my shoulder.

“Dae-sa-hyeong!”

“Ugh? What is it? Wait… what time is it?”

From beyond the canvas of the tent, the unmistakable din of clashing metal and agonizing shrieks shattered the night.

“Are those brainless bastards rioting again?”

I am going to completely cripple those unteachable fools…

“That’s not it… We are under active assault.”

“What?”

“It’s a massive ambush.”

Directly behind Eun-ho, whose gaze was trembling with pure dread—

“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!”

A shriek far more harrowing and desperate than any horror witnessed during the day tore through the darkness without end.