Chapter 167
Chapter 167
Zhuge Lianhua and Myeongnyang explained the operation to everyone with all their strength and supplemented their lacking knowledge by learning from Muyeon.
As they still lacked experience in utilizing terrain features, the two received Muyeon’s help and, after deep deliberation, determined the direction of the strategy.
After grasping the entire plan, Hwangbo Nyeong nodded.
“Indeed, this looks like the best option.”
The Demonic Cult was already advancing into Shaanxi. It was a speed of advance that was difficult to believe could belong to humans.
“But if things go like this, we’ll inevitably suffer huge losses when the Heavenly Demon appears.”
Namgung Cheon’s words were met with agreement from Tang Gunhyeon.
“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to quickly clear the route where they enter Shaanxi from Ningxia and then regroup?”
Tang Gunhyeon glanced at Youngho. Youngho shook his head side to side.
“What you’re saying is that I should go there, finish things quickly, and come back. But if I do that, there’ll be no one left to stop the Heavenly Demon.”
“Is the Heavenly Demon really that strong?”
“Even I, as I am now, can’t guarantee victory.”
Tang Gunhyeon’s expression darkened rapidly, but Hwangbo Nyeong—who had heard something from Youngho before—sparkled with excitement.
“So now you won’t lose? As expected, you got stronger after almost ascending before!”
Everyone except Youngho tilted their heads, unable to understand why Hwangbo Nyeong was cheering.
“You fools! Do you know what Youngho told me last time? He said he couldn’t beat the Heavenly Demon! But now he says he can’t guarantee victory! That means he can fight him to some extent, you bastards!”
At Hwangbo Nyeong’s astonishing—almost admirable—words, everyone fixed their gaze on Youngho and thought:
‘He could have lost to the Heavenly Demon?’
‘Before he almost ascended, it was a guaranteed defeat?’
The Taoists cursed their past selves who had once felt jealous of the fact that Youngho had almost ascended.
‘You lunatic!’
‘Why were you jealous!’
A thought had once crossed their minds—why could someone from the Unorthodox Faction ascend? But now they instead felt relieved that Youngho had grasped the principles of nature.
If he had not, this war would have been nothing short of a certain defeat.
Seeing the conversation drifting off topic, Youngho snapped his fingers to gather their attention.
“Enough idle talk. As for the Ningxia side, there’s terrain perfect for Demonic Practitioners if they come. We’ll lure them there and annihilate them all, so don’t worry.”
“What kind of terrain?”
“There’s a large cliff. We’ll lure them there and scatter the Tang Clan’s special poison, killing them all.”
“How will you lure them to the cliff?”
“The exact details are still being discussed between the Strategist of the Murim Alliance and the Strategist of the Unorthodox Alliance. We’ll have an answer soon. They didn’t say it was impossible.”
“Even so, this time the forces are on a completely different scale than before. The difference in the number of soldiers alone is enormous.”
At Namgung Cheon’s sharp observation, Youngho smiled inwardly.
“The Demonic Cult is trying to seize the Central Plains as quickly as possible. Just look at their rate of advance. Even the speed at which the soldiers they sent earlier were dying was unusual.”
Youngho spoke with great seriousness. Within that seriousness lingered a hint of fear, causing Kang Chowon and Kang Hosan to stare at him in surprise.
“Considering the temperament of the Demon Brain, they’ll probably try to take the Central Plains within a month.”
“Do you have evidence?”
“That’s everything I said earlier. If I had to add something, it would be the emergence of those called the Twelve Demons.”
At that moment, Unjeong, the representative of the Mount Hua Sect, asked a question.
“Sword Exalted, may I ask something?”
Until now, only those deemed qualified to converse with Youngho had exchanged opinions.
More precisely, the others had drawn that line themselves. Even if they had good ideas, they held their tongues.
They believed they did not stand at that level. Thus, they thought Unjeong’s words would surely be ignored.
As if they had never heard them in the first place—or as if the question itself had never been asked.
Yet everyone struggled not to show their surprise at Youngho’s response.
“Go ahead. If you have a strategy that could slow the Demonic Cult’s advance, I’d truly welcome it.”
Unjeong, like an actor in a perfectly scripted opera, showed no reaction and instead behaved confidently, as though this were only natural.
“The existence of the Sword Exalted is a variable. No matter how capable the Demon Brain may be, it would be difficult for him to predict all of the Sword Exalted’s actions. This is merely my personal opinion, but I believe the Demonic Cult lacks the time to seize the Central Plains within a month.”
“Your reasoning?”
“Because the Sword Exalted’s martial might rivals that of the Heavenly Demon. It is said that the Heavenly Demon’s martial prowess, whom the Demonic Cult reveres as a god, is truly comparable to a deity. Moreover, the only person the Heavenly Demon has personally acknowledged is the Sword Exalted. That means the Demon Brain’s judgment might be wrong.”
“So your idea is that we shouldn’t pour all our forces in at once like the Demonic Cult?”
“Yes. No matter how much they are Demonic Cult members, they are still humans made of flesh and bone. There will inevitably come a time when they must rest. Therefore, I believe we should wage a war of attrition.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“To wage a war of attrition, sufficient food and supplies are essential. No matter how confident he is, if it’s the Demon Brain, he will certainly have assumed the worst-case scenario.”
“So you’re suggesting we secretly move some forces ahead of time to seize the Demonic Cult’s supply routes?”
“Yes. If that happens, the Demonic Cult will worry about starving to death before they even begin fighting.”
It was a valid opinion and an excellent strategy. His tone and sentences felt as if they had been scripted like a theatrical performance, but thanks to Youngho’s natural speaking style, it passed smoothly.
Those who knew Youngho well looked at him with cold eyes and thought:
‘So you planned this together.’
‘This guy would’ve succeeded as a con artist too.’
Unjeong’s slightly stiff and awkward tone was suspicious, but those who had been in a similarly ambiguous position just moments earlier thought differently.
If they had grounds for their opinions and solutions to the problems, then they too could speak up.
If their opinion helped win even a single battle, nothing could be more glorious or exhilarating.
Realizing this, the others began desperately thinking about various countermeasures and the coming war.
Their demeanor was completely different from before. As they turned their minds rapidly, their determination—rarely seen until now—became evident.
Watching them, Youngho secretly smiled in satisfaction.
Youngho was someone who had to make choices. Of course, he had to think, but in the end he had only one body, and the thoughts contained within it were also singular.
Just as clouds drift across the sky, the thoughts that could arise in Youngho’s mind were only the ‘natural’ ones that Youngho himself could think of.
Youngho needed diverse opinions. He needed someone who would change his sky from blue to green, and someone who would claim that humans had five or six limbs altogether.
Opinions and methods had to be diverse. If humans in this world averaged five arms, then martial arts would evolve to match that.
And the martial arts practiced by someone who could freely wield five arms would surely be extraordinary.
If it were martial arts possessing the profundity of change, the transformations would be even more remarkable, and the profundity of mastery would grow even stronger.
Leaving the others immersed in thought, Youngho revised the strategy and spoke again.
“As soon as we reach the front lines, we’ll divide the troops and assemble a group to search for their supply units.”
The Murim Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance also approached the meeting far more seriously than when they had first taken the field.
Their heavy losses had forced them to awaken to the reality.
That this war could truly bring about the Demonic Dominion of the World.
In truth, part of it had been within Youngho’s plan. He had deliberately sent all the martial artists of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families to the front lines, and even borrowed the strength of other sects and clans within the Murim Alliance.
‘Even so, they returned defeated after only five days.’
Moreover, everyone except Hyewon and five hundred soldiers had died. If Hyewon had valued his own life more, the result would have been complete annihilation.
Others would say that Youngho had abandoned them.
To that, Youngho could answer proudly.
Yes, he had abandoned them. He had deceived those righteous yet foolish people who offered their lives to protect their sects and clans.
Vicious. Evil.
It went beyond such categories.
Youngho knew that all fifteen thousand of them would die.
And even knowing that, he had sent them out.
All so that the alliance would learn to cooperate—and to obtain even a little more information.
‘At the very least, I thought they’d hold out for ten days….’
It had differed from his expectations, but it was fine. The fact that fifteen thousand people had died within just five days awakened both the Orthodox Sect and the Unorthodox Faction.
It made them realize that this battle could not be reduced to petty conflicts between Orthodox and Unorthodox.
Although the outcome had deviated greatly from his expectations, the overall framework had grown even more solid than planned.
Though tens of thousands of lives had been sacrificed to paint this picture, it was acceptable.
It couldn’t be helped.
It wasn’t some hypocritical thought about serving a grand righteousness.
It was simply the thinking of an ordinary member of the Unorthodox Faction.
I’m safe, so it’s fine.
The people around me are safe, so it’s fine.
The people I care about are healthy, so it’s fine.
There was no grand ambition to save the world.
He only protected those who would save the world because the people he cherished were among them.
That was all.
Even if history recorded him as a Blood Sovereign.
Even if the world struck him as the most wicked villain to ever exist.
‘I just want to live happily and enjoy my life.’
Nothing more, nothing less.
Before the Regression, and after the Regression.
Nothing had changed except that the people he needed to protect had become slightly more numerous.
But…
‘If this causes them to turn against me, that would be a little sad.’
Youngho looked at those who could not remember and smiled faintly.
The meeting continued, and the next day they immediately began their march.
The Imperial Sword, the Fist Queen, the Dark Emperor, the Blood Sword Ghost, the Great Rock Sword, the Divine Physician of Ten Thousand Hands.
Each of them had achieved feats worthy of legendary tales, and they now wore expressions filled with determination.
Soon they would depart.
When that moment came, some would return as corpses.
Some would not return even as corpses.
Death.
To a Martial Artist, it was the closest yet most distant concept.
The forces gathered here were marching to face death.
They believed they were going to face death for the sake of the world—for the greater cause.
Since the Murim Alliance had been formed for that purpose, they proudly believed the same.
Yet when death loomed before them, their own appearance would surely be ugly to behold.
At this moment, everyone thought of the warm embrace of their families.
Even during the harshest training, they had never felt this way.
That was how heavy the word “death” truly was.
The world? They didn’t care about that.
They only wanted to protect their families and the sects or clans that sheltered them.
If the Demonic Cult guaranteed the safety of their families, some even felt they could betray their side.
There were those who would not.
But there were far more who would.
They were risking their lives only because they knew the Demonic Cult would never make such an offer.
Because they knew the Demonic Cult’s lies.
Because they knew its brutality and cruelty.
That was why they had no choice but to act themselves.
At that moment, Youngho’s voice sounded from behind the soldiers.
It was low but warm.
A gentle voice reminiscent of warm sunlight made everyone’s ears perk up.
“Fight to protect the things you are thinking of right now.”
At those words, most people swallowed hard.
Then they sighed.
They thought they had already seen enough of the ugly side of the Orthodox Sect through Youngho, yet this too was another side of it.
They simply walked the path of righteousness through repeated conditioning.
Perhaps only a handful in the Murim Alliance truly walked the righteous path.
Yet realizing that fact now brought them a strange comfort.
Thinking that everyone else was the same made it feel as though a weight hanging from their hearts had fallen away.
Their minds felt clearer.
Their hearts felt lighter.
Reading the change in atmosphere, Han Yonghu nodded toward Cheonung.
Cheonung clicked his tongue as if this was a waste of time and said,
“We march.”
“We should depart as well.”
Soon the Murim Alliance and the Unorthodox Alliance marched together toward the battlefield.
Despite their opposing stances of Orthodox and Unorthodox, it was a battlefield where they would have to rely on each other and entrust their lives to one another.