Chapter 308 : God (2)
Chapter 308: God (2)
The next day, Il-mok and his party left Lanzhou.
When they'd first crossed into the north, they'd numbered barely twenty. Now the group easily exceeded fifty.
Between the goods to sell in the Western Regions and the provisions bound for Xinjiang, the sheer volume of cargo had multiplied the number of carriages, which naturally meant more escorts.
After several days of traveling northwest, they reached a nomadic settlement they'd visited before.
Maybe it was the intimidating sight of dozens of wagons and armed men rolling in, but the nomads initially eyed them with high wariness and suspicion. Only after finally spotting some familiar faces did they relax and come over to say hello.
"Hehe. So you really were preparing to trade with the Western Regions."
"Hahaha. Same as last time, we'd like to camp nearby for one night and be on our way."
The chief's expression turned troubled at Il-mok's reply.
"Sleeping here is no problem, but I'm afraid we don't have enough food to feed this many guests."
"Don't worry about that. We brought our own supplies. Though some meat would be nice. How about selling us one sheep? We'll pay handsomely."
"If it's just one sheep, we can certainly manage that."
Having reached an agreement with the chief, Il-mok casually revealed his real purpose.
"By the way, didn't you just mention being short on food? Eating nothing but livestock every day must get tiresome. Would you have any use for rice, wheat, or dried fruit?"
"...We'd love to have some, but all we can offer in return is meat, wool, and hides."
"Hahaha. For old friends like us, I won't ask for payment. I just ask that you agree to a few small conditions."
"...I'd need to hear what those conditions are before I decide."
"Hahaha. Nothing major. We'll likely be using this route quite often going forward, so I'd like to station a few of our people with your tribe. Think of the food as compensation for hosting them."
The chief mulled it over briefly, then nodded.
"That's not a bad deal at all."
"Hahaha. Glad you think so. Oh, and our Maitreya Luminous Cult will probably be passing through here quite frequently. I won't always be with them, though. We'll provide food for every trade run. In return, could you teach the people we leave behind your language? They'll teach your people the Central Plains tongue and look after any patients you might have."
The promise of regular trade visits and free food was too good to pass up. The chief accepted without a moment's hesitation.
Il-mok and his party rested for a day, then left the nomadic settlement the next morning.
They left exactly five people and one wooden chest behind.
As the five of them stood there awkwardly, a nomadic man walked up to them.
"Our language. I teach."
His speech was clumsy and his vocabulary limited, but he was the best Central Plains speaker in the settlement.
For about an hour, the man taught them the nomadic script and language. Then another hour, the five from the Maitreya Luminous Cult taught him the Central Plains tongue.
After the brief language lesson, a middle-aged man among the five spoke to the nomad.
"I am a physician. This is a nurse. If anyone is unwell, let us know."
He pointed to himself and the woman beside him, then produced a set of acupuncture needles.
Maybe they remembered how the earlier advance party had treated their sick, because the nomads immediately lined up in droves to get checked out.
While the physician checked patients one by one and the medical woman assisted him, the remaining three struck up conversations with the nomads waiting in line.
"We are the Mai. Tre. Ya. Lu. Mi. Nous. Cult."
"We look forward to getting along."
Communicating through gestures and broken phrases, they wove the Maitreya Luminous Cult's name and teachings into every exchange.
After the consultations ended, they opened the crate Il-mok had left behind and distributed small portions of food to the nomads.
"Hahaha. In our Maitreya Luminous Cult, when we exchange gifts, we offer prayers to one another."
"The Advent of Maitreya! Salvation for All!”
Prompted by their chanting, the nomads who'd received food mimicked the words in awkward pronunciation.
Touched by the free healthcare and food, the nomads brought out their own meals to share, and the whole camp sat down for a big, friendly dinner.
Once the lively feast finally wound down, the woman who'd been carrying a pipa on her back took it in her hands and began to play.
“Glo~ ry! Glory! O’ Divine Cult!!”
The hymn that had echoed across Gansu Province rang out once more.
The nurse joined in, and the physician and the other two men sang along awkwardly as well.
Those two men were Heavenly Demon Divine Cult martial artists, stationed there as a precaution.
Maybe it was the sheer power of five people singing in unison. Or maybe it was the maddeningly catchy melody unique to the hymn.
The women hummed it while cooking meals, and the men hummed it while herding the livestock to water and pasture.
Flowing from the lips of people who didn't know what the words meant and couldn't even pronounce them right, the hymn passed from lip to lip.
"Glow~ y, glowy, O’ Dwvine Cult!!”
Slowly but surely, the catchy jingle of the Maitreya Luminous Cult began to ring out across the northern steppes.
* * *
After moving and stopping every two days or so to visit nomadic settlements and leaving behind some chests and personnel, Il-mok and his party eventually arrived at the former Mangud tribe's settlement.
By the time they reached what had now become an outpost, their numbers had been halved from the original count.
'I wonder if everyone is doing well.'
While Il-mok thought about the missionaries he'd left at each settlement, Kaisan of the Kiyat tribe bowed before him.
"I greet the Incarnation of Maitreya."
"Any problems while I was gone?"
"Thanks to the people you left behind, O’ Incarnation, there were no issues."
After receiving Kaisan's report, Il-mok stayed one night, left a few more missionaries behind, and headed west with the seventy women and children originally from the Mangud tribe in tow.
After a day's travel, they reached the eastern foothills of the Tianshan Mountain Range. They rested for a day, then crossed into Xinjiang through the gentler slopes at the range's edge.
Once in Xinjiang, travel became much easier since it was Heavenly Demon Divine Cult territory.
After several days of stopping at Xinjiang's villages for a relatively comfortable journey, they arrived at the main headquarters.
With the first half of his trip completed, Il-mok headed to the Heavenly Demon Palace to deliver his report.
"Therefore, rather than crossing the entire Northern Route, I propose using the northern grasslands only from Gansu to the eastern foothills of the Tianshan Mountain Range."
"Hmm. So you're deliberately choosing a stopgap measure?"
"Yes, Master. As our trade volume increases, rumors of the Maitreya Luminous Cult doing business with the Western Regions will inevitably spread. Even if we deny any connection to our Divine Cult, the sheer amount of money involved will attract packs of ravenous wolves."
"I see. Rather than bending over backward to maintain a perfect disguise, you plan to exploit the route and squeeze out as much profit as possible while our enemies are still scrambling."
"Exactly, Master."
Invest more effort in deception, or settle for a moderate cover and focus on trade.
The Heavenly Demon considered this for a moment.
There was no way to know which was the right answer just yet.
So the Heavenly Demon nodded in agreement.
"Do as you see fit."
Given everything Il-mok had accomplished so far, he was willing to trust his youngest’s judgment.
"Speaking of which, you've brought quite a number of women and children back with you."
As the Heavenly Demon moved to the next topic, Il-mok recounted what had happened in the north.
"Based on my experiences up there, 'Baatar' seems to be their term for the Realm of Truth."
When the Heavenly Demon heard about the Jarchigud tribe and the Blood Cult's Jiangshi, he visibly scowled.
"To trek all the way to the North just to dig up a corpse and turn it into a Jiangshi... And to have the audacity to use the secret cave of the Blood Tears Heavenly Demon for their filthy work. No matter how I look at it, those pathetic worms are unforgivable."
Il-mok almost laughed at the Heavenly Demon's quiet murmur.
'Her way of thinking really is different.'
He'd expected his Master to be concerned about a Jiangshi made from a Realm of Truth master's corpse. Instead, he was simply offended by the sheer depravity of their actions.
"For now, I've instructed those operating as the Maitreya Luminous Cult operatives to focus more on monitoring the Central Plains and the Blood Cult."
After wrapping up the Blood Cult discussion, Il-mok went on to describe the Spirit Beast he’d slain, the incident with the Mangud tribe, and finally the intelligence about the Oirat tribe.
"The Oirat tribe... We've been pouring so much manpower into Xinjiang and Gansu lately that we clearly laxed our surveillance on them. I didn't realize they'd expanded that much."
After mulling it over for a second, the Heavenly Demon made his decision.
"I'll dispatch extra personnel up North. They will likely interfere with your plans, so increased surveillance is warranted."
Il-mok smiled wryly.
'I do not know where they will be drafted from, but the remaining people are going to be trapped in a cycle of overwork from hell.’
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was already suffering from a manpower shortage due to its rapid expansion. Sending more bodies to run reconnaissance meant everyone else had to pick up the slack.
But this wasn't the time to worry about others.
Not only was he swamped with his own endless trips between Gansu and the Western Regions, but he was also about to make things worse.
"Lastly, the seventy women and children I brought back are refugees from the Manghud tribe. Much like the slaves we brought in from the West, I suggest we teach them the Cult's doctrines and put them to work."
In other words, he was about to drop an absolute nightmare of a workload right into the lap of the Grand Teacher’s office.
"Hehehe. I'll call Jin-hak over so you can give him the good news yourself."
"...Actually, I need to get to the Western Regions immediately to sell the merchandise from Gansu, so I think I'll be leaving the main headquarters right this second."
Il-mok had a strong feeling that running into his Eldest Brother or Sixth Brother right now would result in a death match right here and then.
* * *
After fleeing the main headquarters for his life, Il-mok and his party headed for the Western Regions.
Crossing the Desert Route out of Xinjiang, they arrived at the grassland where Ohalak's tribe had once lived.
In the time since Il-mok had last seen it, the area had been fortified with wooden palisades, serving as a shared camp for the Black Tiger Corps and Ohalak's people.
"It's been a while, Black Tiger Corps Leader."
"Hahaha. You've had a rough trip going all the way to Gansu and back, Young Master Il-mok."
Ouyang Hyeok welcomed Il-mok warmly and filled him in on recent events.
Mostly stories about Muslim-converted nomads raiding them like bandits.
Ouyang Hyeok looked like a man who would throw up if he heard the words Muslims one more time. And it wasn't just him. Almost everyone in the camp had the hollow, exhausted stare of men who had been fighting nonstop.
All except one.
"Hahahaha! My martial arts have been improving by the day since I've been stationed here. Thank you so much for sending me, Young Master Il-mok."
The battle-crazed man. Dokgo Pae.
Even within the Demonic Cult, which revered martial prowess, Dokgo Pae was a certified grade-A lunatic.
"T-that crazy bastard is running his mouth again."
"Shut the hell up, please! Every time you start talking crazy, those Muslim bastards come charging in!"
The other Black Tiger Corps martial artists glared at Dokgo Pae, but none of them actually attacked him.
"Hahaha! If you're looking for a spar, Seniors, my door is always open!"
Mainly because any attack would just be met with Dokgo Pae's downright psychopathic enthusiasm.
After resting one day at the outpost, Il-mok and his party continued west.
Since they had already carved out this trade route once, the journey was relatively uneventful. There were two bandit raids, but they felt so routine for this region that Il-mok couldn't even muster a reaction.
Passing through Samarkand and arriving in Merv, they sold five times the volume of goods compared to their previous trip.
Having amassed a fortune in gold and silver, Il-mok purchased a small number of slaves as before and headed back to the main headquarters.
"I'll leave the education of these people to the Grand Teacher's office, then. I'll be heading back to Gansu, Master!"
And once again, he fled before Wi Jin-hak and Jong-ri Chu could catch him.
Just like that, Il-mok returned to Lanzhou in Gansu Province after roughly two months away, where a piece of good news awaited him.
"The bow made from the Spirit Beast's horns and tendons is complete, Young Master."
Well, fantastic news for Jeong Hyeon, at least.