So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 370 : Upheaval (3)

After quietly sending his daughters and all of his family's warriors back home to Shandong, Hwangbo Ak traveled to Dongting Lake alongside the Martial Alliance forces.It seemed the information about the Maitreya Luminous Cult hadn't just been shared with the Hwangbo Family, as warriors from every corner of the Central Plains were swarming the Martial Alliance.

Upon arriving at the Alliance's base near Dongting Lake, Hwangbo Ak received a personal invitation from Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong and made his way to the meeting room.

"Hahaha! It's been quite a while, Family Head Hwangbo."

"I trust you've been keeping well, Alliance Leader."

Playing the part of the clueless brute to perfection, Hwangbo Ak returned the Alliance Leader's hearty greeting with equal energy, then turned to exchange pleasantries with another old man who had been waiting inside the hall.

"It's an honor to see the Hengshan Sect Leader."

"I pay my respects to the Sect Leader of Mount Heng."

"Hohoho. It really has been far too long."

Hwangbo Ak gave a light salute with clasped fists, and Mount Heng Sect Leader Yangmuja returned it in kind.

The Mount Heng Sect had always been a well-regarded faction, though for a long time it had fallen just short of being counted among the Nine Great Sects and One Gang. That changed starting some ten-odd years ago when the sect finally earned its place among them and no one had more to do with that rise than Yangmuja himself, the Sect Leader and its finest swordsman, known as the Greatest Sword of Mount Heng.

Yangmuja was a master of the Realm of Truth and one of the men known as the Twelve Heavenly Pillars.

"Hahahaha. I couldn't be happier to see both the Mount Heng Sect and the Hwangbo Family standing with us on this."

Yangmuja and Hwangbo Ak traded pleasant words for the Alliance Leader's words.

"We are marching to execute the Demonic Cult and restore justice to Jianghu. How could a sect that calls itself righteous like ours possibly sit that out?"

"Hmph. Those vile Demonic Cult bastards had the nerve to deceive us. I won't let that stand."

Buying completely into Hwangbo Ak's performance, the Alliance Leader gave a satisfied smile and spoke. "Then rest easy for today. We begin moving northwest first thing tomorrow."

"...Tomorrow? Already?"

Hwangbo Ak asked with a genuinely puzzled look, and the Alliance Leader gave a firm nod.

"That's right. We move out tomorrow, so those Demonic Cult rats don't have a chance to slip away into Xinjiang."

Hwangbo Ak found himself weighing two options.

Should he just laugh it off like a meathead, or should he try to casually pry for more details?

After quickly running through his options, Hwangbo Ak came up with the perfect excuse.

"Ahem. Actually, I put out a summons for all my family's warriors so we could properly crush the Demonic Cultists who tricked us. Don't you think we should wait for them to arrive?"

"Hahaha! Don't worry yourself over that. We're only dealing with the Maitreya Luminous Cult remnants in Gansu first. Once we've cleaned up Gansu and Sichuan, the reinforcement can join us and we'll push straight through to Xinjiang."

The real reason the Alliance Leader was moving so aggressively was rooted in his true objective.

His real goal was to inflict the maximum amount of damage on both the Demonic Cult and the Orthodox Faction alike. Using the excuse that the enemy might flee, he planned to kick off the war with only the immediately available forces as a vanguard.

The smaller the numbers, the heavier the losses would be, and the more men fell, the deeper the Orthodox Faction's hatred would run.

Once that happened, they wouldn't stop at wiping out the Maitreya Luminous Cult in Gansu; they'd have all the motivation they needed to push all the way into Xinjiang.

And on top of that, there was one more piece of bait to lure these so-called Orthodox Factions into Xinjiang.

‘Hehehehe. I hadn't been pleased with the Maitreya Luminous Cult's little winning streak, but this is turning out to be a blessing in disguise.’

That bait was wealth.

Historically, the Orthodox Faction only ever played defense against the Demonic Cult.

What was the real reason they never took the fight all the way to Xinjiang?

It was simple: Xinjiang was basically a barren wasteland. There was absolutely no profit in invading it.

But things were different now.

Every major sect in the martial world knew that the Maitreya Luminous Cult had successfully carved out a massive trade route between Gansu and the West.

The mountains of gold and silver flowing through that route were ripe for the taking, and when treasure was on the table, greedy fools would come swarming in endless droves.

***

Right around the time the Orthodox Faction’s forces were pouring into the Martial Alliance headquarters.

"So the Maitreya Luminous Cult was the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult all along."

That news had reached a secluded mountain valley somewhere in the Central Plains as well.

"Heavens hasn't abandoned us yet. Our moment has finally come."

After hearing his subordinate's report, the Blood Cult Leader muttered with a gleam of madness in his eyes, then issued his orders.

"Go tell every single one of our believers right now. Move as quietly as possible and converge on Gansu."

"Your will be done, Cult Leader!"

As soon as the subordinate scrambled out of the cave to deliver the orders, the Blood Cult Leader slowly turned around.

He stared at a corpse resting in the center of a massive geometric array drawn entirely in blood.

"The moment the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Martial Alliance clash, we will use their blood to fulfill our wish!"

***

Just as the Alliance Leader promised, the forces gathered at the Martial Alliance began their march the very next day.

They marched northwest out of the Alliance's base, passed through Yichang in southern Hubei, and pressed on toward Shaanxi.

Right at the mountain pass crossing from Hubei into Shaanxi, the Zhuge Family linked up with the main army.

"Thank you for joining us."

After offering a formal martial salute to Zhuge Mun, the Head of the Zhuge Family, the Alliance Leader casually slipped in a question.

"By any chance, did you happen to see anyone coming from Wudang along the way?"

He was asking because Mount Longzhong, where the Zhuge Family was based, sat fairly close to Mount Wudang.

"I actually sent word to Mount Wudang on the way here, but they said they'd be watching the situation for now."

It wasn't the Alliance Leader who answered, but Mount Heng Sect Leader Yangmuja.

"Tsk. I don't understand how men who call themselves Taoist could hear news about the Demonic Cult and still give an answer like that."

He had no qualms about badmouthing Wudang in front of everyone present. His blatant disrespect wasn't just because he was the leader of the lowest-ranking sect in the Nine Great Sects taking cheap shots out of jealousy toward the revered Wudang.

Rather, this stemmed from his martial arts.

Mount Heng, also known as the Southern Sacred Mountain, was said to be where the legendary God of Fire lay at rest. That’s why one of their peak was named Zhurong Peak.

Rooted in that legend, the Mount Heng Sect's Mind Art was a powerful martial art that utilized Extreme Yang Qi, and as the one who was the most proficient in that Mind Art, Yangmuja’s temperament was shaped by that Mind Art and was famous for a fiery temperament unfitting for a Taoist.

When he was in a good mood, he was boisterous and easy to get along with, but when something rubbed him the wrong way, he'd say harsh things to anyone regardless of who they were, and when it was bad enough, he'd have his sword out before anyone could even react.

Trying to smooth things over, Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong flashed a genial smile and opened his mouth.

"Hahaha. Don't mind it too much, Mount Heng Sect Leader. At the very least, they're not siding with the Demonic Cult and blocking our path, are they?"

It sounded like he was trying to calm Yangmuja down, but there was a barb buried in those words.

What he meant was clear.

Anyone who stood in the way of this advance or tried to interfere would be treated as a Demonic Cultist.

***

With the Zhuge Family now marching alongside them, the Orthodox army finally crossed into Shaanxi. They passed right through Pingli County and reached Shiquan County, where two massive groups of Taoists were already waiting for them.

They were the Taoists of Mount Hua and Zhongnan, the two powerhouses based in Shaanxi Province.

Zhongnan currently didn't have any master in the Realm of Truth to place themselves among the current generation of Twelve Heavenly Pillars, and Mount Hua's Plum Blossom Sword Immortal had lost his life in the war against the Blood Cult.

Even so, the deep foundations built over more than a century as members of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang were nothing to dismiss.

Neither sect could boast an absolute master, but both had well over a hundred swordsmen who had reached the Peak Realm.

The Martial Alliance, the Mount Heng Sect, the Zhuge Family, the Mount Hua Sect, and the Zhongnan Sect. All backed by Hwangbo Ak, the legendary Fist King.

Three absolute masters and over a thousand martial artists crossed through Shaanxi and pushed on into Gansu. After passing through Hanzhong on the western border of Shaanxi Province, they crossed into Gansu and marched for a few more days until they arrived near Mount Kongtong, the former home of the fallen Kongtong Sect.

They had reached Pingliang County, the nearest county and a place that had recently become incredibly famous for its theatrical duels, music, and vibrant art scene.

And it was an open secret that this massive cultural boom was entirely thanks to the Maitreya Luminous Cult.

"Show yourselves right now, you vile Demonic Cult rats!!"

"The time has come for heaven to punish you for deceiving the common people and bleeding them dry all this time!"

The second they arrived in Pingliang County, the Orthodox warriors immediately started screaming their heads off, trying to goad the Demonic Cultists into a fight.

But no one stepped forward in response to their cries.

Well. Almost no one.

A frail old man without a single ounce of internal energy carefully shuffled out to meet them.

Thinking this might be some sort of devious Demonic Cult trap, the entire army tensed up and glared at him as Alliance Leader Cheok Pae-myeong stepped to the front.

“Who are you and why are you blocking our path?"

"I-I'm j-just a r-regular old man who's lived h-here his w-whole life, m-my lords. T-Truth is, I c-came out here t-to pass on a m-message."

The old man was trembling so hard he could barely get the words out, and the fighters watched his lips with a range of different expressions crossing their faces.

‘It's a message from the Demonic Cult.’

‘What the hell are these bastards trying to say, putting an old man out front like this?’

Intimidated by all those stares, the old man carefully opened his mouth.

"Umm... i-if you're looking for t-those folks, they've a-already packed up and l-left, sirs."

***

Right after word reached them that the Martial Alliance was spreading news of the Maitreya Luminous Cult's true identity and rallying the Orthodox Factions, Jin Hayeon looked at him calmly and asked her question. "Young Master. How do you wish to proceed?"

Il-mok just gave a nonchalant shrug and answered like it wasn't a big deal at all.

"Simple enough. We just fall back to Xinjiang."

"Are you saying we're going to retreat without even putting up a fight?"

Il-mok nodded at her question.

"There's no reason to fight them. The Alliance Leader is nothing more than the Imperial Family's lapdog, and his goal is to get us and the Orthodox Factions to tear each other apart. If we just pull back, we've already wrecked his plan."

His reasoning was sound enough that the maids each fell into their own thoughts for a moment, until Jeong Hyeon carefully raised her hand.

"Y-Young Master. W-What happens if the Orthodox army ch-chases us all the way into Xinjiang?"

"Then we just fall back on the main headquarters and fight. If they're foolish enough to come marching to their own deaths in terrain they're not used to, why would we run from that?"

If push came to shove, Il-mok was fully prepared to unleash scorched-earth tactics.

It meant destroying every county and well along the enemy's path of advance so they couldn't gather supplies on the ground.

Xinjiang was already half-desert on a normal day, chronically short of water and food. If he drew the enemy in and implemented a scorched-earth strategy there, he could wipe them out completely with minimal losses on their own side.

If they could eliminate the army without taking significant casualties, the Imperial Family's schemes would lose their teeth entirely.

Of course, the scorched-earth strategy would cause significant hardship to the common people living in the area, but Il-mok had a reason to believe that part was manageable.

‘We've stockpiled quite a bit of food through our trade with the Western Regions. We can easily compensate them for the damages later.'

Just as Jeong Hyeon was nodding along to Il-mok's plan, Hyeokryeon Seon-ah voiced a question of her own.

"And what if they don't follow us into Xinjiang? This place is something you built up through years of hard work, Big Brother."

A faint murderous glint flickered briefly in Hyeokryeon Seon-ah's eyes.

The thought of those self-righteous hypocrites trampling the garden her brother had spent years cultivating was enough to make her blood run wild.

As if he understood what she was feeling, Il-mok answered with a soft smile.

"Don't worry about it. We're only pulling back for a short while. Once the Beggars’ Gang, the Hwangbo Family, and Wudang come around to our side, we'll march right back in."

He was estimating that the Beggars’ Gang's investigation would wrap up within a month or two at most.

At his explanation, Jin Hayeon brought up a question that had been nagging at her.

"Young Master, how exactly do you plan on communicating with our allies if we're all holed up in Xinjiang?"

"No need to worry about that either. The ones pulling back are only the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's fighters and missionaries."

There were thousands of completely ordinary believers scattered across Gansu who had zero ties on paper to the Demonic Cult and didn't know a lick of martial arts.

And Il-mok wasn't just planning on using them as a simple telephone line to the Beggars’ Gang.

'With our entire intelligence network staying put, launching our counterattack is going to be a breeze.'

They would stay behind and act as the eyes and ears of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult right under the enemy's noses.

And with that, Il-mok's retreat order swept across Gansu Province and northern Sichuan like wildfire.

Naturally, that order reached Pingliang County, which led to...

"What is the meaning of this?! What do you mean we have to go back to Xinjiang!?"

Baek Cheon, who had spent every single day in Pingliang County immersing himself in theatrical arts, was practically foaming at the mouth as he screamed.

"Today, tomorrow, the day after! Do you have any idea that my shows are completely sold out for the next several months?! How can you expect me to just abandon my adoring fans who have been waiting so desperately to see me perform!!"

"These are Young Master's orders!!"

When the warrior who had come to relay Il-mok's orders shouted that back at him, Baek Cheon's face crumpled into the expression of a man about to have a breakdown.

The stage was his entire life.                            

But there was absolutely no way he could defy an order from Young Master Il-mok, the man who had dragged him out of the darkness and into the spotlight.

Stripped of any rational outlet, his fury quickly found somewhere else to go.

"Those motherless Orthodox bastards!! I swear I'm going to murder every last one of them!!"

He swore it right then and there. The moment this retreat was over and they marched back into Gansu. He was going to use the corpses of the Orthodox bastards who ruined his shows to practice his hidden weapon flower arrangements.