Chapter 381: Dark Monk
Just before the dagger that had sprung out of empty air where nothing had been stabbed into Mujin’s side.
Wiiiiing.
A small protective aura that had appeared at some point touched the dagger, producing an unpleasant explosive roar.
And the protective aura that had begun from a single point had, before anyone knew it, expanded its territory and transformed into golden armor protecting Mujin’s entire body.
However, even if protective aura guarded the whole body, a person was bound to die from just a single hole.
Kiiiiik!
Golden energy had also gathered at some point on the dagger that had launched the surprise attack against Mujin, and it began tearing apart the protective aura guarding Mujin’s body.
And just before a hole was pierced through the protective aura.
Pat!
Mujin swiftly twisted his body and swung his fist toward empty air.
Boom!
With an explosive roar like a cannon permitted for use only by the military being fired, Mujin’s single punch tore through the air and advanced.
And the moment Mujin’s fist reached its target point.
Kwaaang!!!
A thunderous roar rang out.
Tap.
About one jang away, a monk dressed in black monastic robes revealed himself.
“It still doesn’t work.”
Toward the monk muttering as though disappointed, Mujin let out a sigh and said,
“Do you really have to come see me like this every single time?”
At that question, the monk who had ambushed Mujin. Mukyeong gave one shrug and answered.
“Well, if it works on you, Mujin, that means I can kill anyone. There’s no need to practice with someone else, is there?”
At that tone, as though asking if it was not obvious, Mujin’s expression turned dumbfounded.
“Could you think a little about my position as the one being attacked, huh? I get startled every time.”
“I’m only doing it as training. I didn’t have any intention of actually stabbing you in the first place.”
“......Isn’t that even more of a problem? Since there’s no killing intent, it’s even harder to detect.”
This time as well, he had somehow managed to react, but honestly, until the dagger sprang out, Mujin had not sensed Mukyeong’s approach at all.
And in Mujin’s opinion, Mukyeong’s ambush had already reached a level that others could not possibly deal with.
The only reason he had been able to react was because of the peculiarity that he handled natural energy.
Of course, Mujin had still not reached the same realm as Hyungwang of the past.
As for whether reaching that level was realistically possible, even Mujin himself first found negative thoughts coming to mind.
While Hyungwang had handled natural energy freely at will, Mujin’s method was merely to inhale natural energy through his skin and then unfold martial arts without passing it through his dantian.
Even that was possible only because he had mastered the Jade Vajra Art and become able to absorb energy through his skin. And because the Jade Vajra Art was an external art that endured through the body, if one had to classify it, it was far from the realm of enlightenment.
And after the war, Mujin had realized one major problem that arose from his method.
Unlike drawing internal power directly from the dantian and using it, his method required time to inhale natural energy.
That was why Mujin had devoted himself to training to reach a state where he operated natural energy constantly, instead of inhaling natural energy only when needed.
In other words, Mujin was trying to make the act of always absorbing the surrounding natural energy through his skin, circulating that natural energy through the meridians of his whole body, and then letting the natural energy leave again through his mouth or skin repeat without cease.
Thanks to repeating that tenaciously for two years, natural energy now circulated around Mujin’s body very naturally even unconsciously.
Thanks to that, his body was always filled with natural energy, and without having to consciously pay attention to absorbing natural energy separately, he had become able to use natural energy as though it were internal power and unfold martial arts.
This too was possible because he had already been able to operate an internal cultivation method through moving cultivation.
And because he had reached such a realm, Mujin obtained one effect he had not aimed for.
The effect of being able to sense, with extreme sensitivity, irregular flows of energy that occurred at very close range.
Because he was not at the realm of freely handling natural energy like Hyungwang, it was impossible for him to grasp even flows arising far away.
However, he could sense with extreme sensitivity the flow of natural energy at close range, flowing in contact with his body, which was constantly breathing with his body.
On top of that, because natural energy was always flowing inside his body, the speed at which he created protective aura had also become far faster.
To put it simply, he had entered a state of immunity to surprise attacks.
Just like how he had reacted to Mukyeong’s surprise attack a moment ago.
However, being able to react did not mean he did not get startled.
“Hoo.”
Mujin, who shook his head from side to side, asked as though he had just remembered.
“Come to think of it, I think I heard you went to Gansu Province to catch the Six-Faced Ghost?”
“I already dealt with him and handed over his head to the nearby Zhengmu League branch. The report will probably come up soon. I came because I was thinking of picking my next prey, but I heard you had returned, Mujin, so I came to see you once.”
“R-right?”
When meeting after a long time, one should greet the other person happily, so why he had tried to stab him with a knife was beyond understanding.
“Ah, come to think of it, I heard a strange rumor. That the peace agreement broke down.”
“That is what happened.”
“Hmm. Then is that rumor true too? I heard a three-way battle happened in Yunnan Province with the Heavenly Demon and the Southern Heavenly Society Leader.”
When Mujin nodded at that question, Mukyeong tilted his head as though finding it strange.
“Then how did those two come back alive? Did they have a lot of guards?”
“.......”
Perhaps because they had spent so much time seeing each other, he was quick on the uptake after all.
However, Mukyeong, who had been thinking about it, soon seemed to realize that the question was meaningless and nodded to himself.
“Well, that’s actually better. If I go that way without needing to pick my next prey, there should be plenty of bastards to kill anyway.”
At the sight of the Blood Monk looking pleased at the thought of killing the demonic bastards of the evil faction and the Demon Cult, cold sweat ran down Mujin’s back.
Because the current breakdown of the peace agreement was only a deception strategy, from beginning to end.
In the end, after hesitating briefly, Mujin used natural energy to tell Mukyeong the truth through Wisdom Light Heart-Speech.
In order to deceive the imperial family, the fewer people who knew the secret, the better, but this time, it could not be helped.
It was partly because Mukyeong was trustworthy.
But more than that, it was because if it was his crazy Shaolin peer, he was the kind of bastard who would gladly go to the territories of the Demon Cult and the evil faction, carry out a massacre, and come back.
And after hearing all of Mujin’s explanation, Mukyeong nodded with a disappointed expression.
- Then it can’t be helped.
At that sound transmission, which somehow carried genuine disappointment, Mujin decided to change the subject of conversation.
“More importantly, it seems like you have been going out on killing missions constantly lately. How about returning to Shaolin soon?”
“......I do have to go back.”
Mukyeong answered in a somehow bitter tone.
And Mujin could vaguely understand the reason.
Naturally, Mujin’s gaze turned toward Mukyeong’s back waist.
A liquor bottle with the words “Subduing Demons, Never Retreating” written on it was hanging there.
It was the keepsake of Hyegwan, Mukyeong’s grandmaster.
Mujin almost clicked his tongue in pity, but he forced himself to hold back so as not to show it.
Mujin himself, Muyul, and Mugung had also spent a long time together with Mukyeong, but at least within the grounds of Shaolin, the one who had spent the longest time with Mukyeong was Hyegwan.
In the end, from Mukyeong’s position, if he stayed at Shaolin Temple, he could not help but remember Hyegwan. Because everywhere in Shaolin Temple, memories with Hyegwan would remain.
During the war with Shincheon, each day had been busy, so he had not recognized it, but now he could not help but feel Hyegwan’s empty place.
That was probably why Mukyeong was immersing himself in the karma of killing like this and avoiding returning to Shaolin.
However, that was far too dangerous a method.
Because a fellow who had been born with an innately strong killing heart to begin with was fighting himself while repeating the karma of killing each time.
But if he offered clumsy consolation, it seemed it would only make the other person feel worse, so Mujin deliberately brought up another topic.
“If you feel uncomfortable, there’s no need to force yourself to go back, but I heard there will be an entrance examination soon. Wouldn’t it be good to at least go take a look and see if there is anyone worth taking as a disciple? And meet Mugung and Muyul after a long time too.”
“An entrance examination......”
Perhaps recalling his first meeting with Hyegwan, Mukyeong wore an expression as though sunk in thought, then soon nodded.
“That’s not bad.”
Leaving only those words behind, Mukyeong vanished without a trace.
Mujin, who had been looking at the place where his friend who had left in an instant had stood, soon turned his head and looked up at the sky.
“Phew.”
Mujin thought.
That he had protected the peace of the martial world today.
'I wonder if those bastards know.'
The demonic bastards active in the territories of the Demon Cult and the evil faction.
Among them, especially the Southern Heavenly Society Leader and the Heavenly Demon—did they know?
The fact that their two names had almost been written on the kill list of perhaps the most outstanding assassin in the current martial world.
'Hmm. Leaving aside the Southern Heavenly Society Leader, I wonder if that bastard Gu Yangpae could block Mukyeong’s ambush?'
A pointless curiosity stirred in Mujin.
***
Several days after the heads of the three great powers clashed in Yunnan Province.
Rumors about it spread throughout the Central Plains, and the Zhengmu League, the Southern Heavenly Society. And the Demon Cult all began giving off a tense atmosphere as though the rumors were true.
While everyone living in the Central Plains began to believe those rumors were true, and a tense atmosphere before war spread throughout all of the Central Plains.
As though there was no reason to be mindful of such an atmosphere in the Central Plains, a grand enthronement ceremony was held in Beijing.
And just as the saying went that words without feet travel a thousand li, by the time the birth of a new emperor spread once again throughout the Central Plains.
Near the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province.
A figure covered in dust entered a place where a huge manor, which had not existed two years ago, had been built.
The man hurriedly crossed the inside of the huge manor and headed toward the pavilion located at the center of the manor.
A pavilion with a signboard reading [Heavenly Demon Hall] hanging from it.
That was right.
This enormous manor, newly built during the past two years, was a kind of forward base.
It could be called a bridgehead being used by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, whose main headquarters lay in the Hundred Thousand Mountains at the western end of Xinjiang, to return to the Central Plains.
And inside the Heavenly Demon Hall, several people had taken their places as though they had known he would come.
The man who entered the Heavenly Demon Hall while receiving all of their gazes crossed the enormous central space without delay and approached the man seated at the seat of honor.
“The Heavenly Demon descends, ten thousand demons bow!”
He prostrated himself with all five points to the ground toward the Heavenly Demon seated at the seat of honor. Gu Yangpae.
And Gu Yangpae received the man’s courtesy appropriately, then asked,
“What happened?”
At Gu Yangpae’s question, the man rose only his upper body while kneeling, then took out a single letter from inside his robe and held it out.
Beside Gu Yangpae, Jin Yanghui, who had now risen to the position of Brightness Left Envoy, approached the man, received the letter, and handed it to Gu Yangpae.
“Withdraw.”
Gu Yangpae, who gave the man who had brought the letter a blunt order, read through the letter he had received from Jin Yanghui.
And after confirming all the contents of the letter, Gu Yangpae raised samadhi true fire with a blunt face, burned the letter away, and opened his mouth.
“A northern expedition, is it.”
At the Heavenly Demon’s mutter, Byeok Gawan, who was standing in attendance on his right, asked,
“May we know what has happened as well, Cult Leader?”
At the Brightness Right Envoy’s question, Gu Yangpae swept his gaze around the surroundings and gave a small nod.
In any case, those gathered here right now were the people he could trust most within the Divine Cult. They were the ones who had made the greatest contributions to his rise to the position of Heavenly Demon.
To begin with, he had also told these people about the Zhengmu League’s deception plan, so there was no particular reason to hide it.
“They say that the first ambition the Second Prince, who ascended the imperial throne, revealed at his coronation was a northern expedition.”
“A northern expedition... you say?”
“That is so.”
“Could it be that, since he pushed aside the Crown Prince and became emperor, he intends to establish a feat that will remain in history?”
A war of conquest to exterminate the northern barbarians, who constantly coveted the empire’s territory and harassed the common people, and to expand the territory further.
It was certainly a method by which he could heighten his dignity as emperor, in the manner of having expanded the empire’s territory and protected the people’s safety.
And that much, Gu Yangpae had also already understood the moment he read the letter.
“Then it seems the Zhengmu League’s deception plan worked on the imperial family.”
“That is correct. If they had noticed the deception plan, would they not have attacked places like the Zhengmu League or the Southern Heavenly Society instead of launching a northern expedition?”
At the words the Left and Right Guardian Envoy Lions spoke in turn, Gu Yangpae answered with an indifferent expression.
“They may have been deceived, but perhaps they simply chose to be deceived.”
To begin with, what was the greatest reason the imperial family had not deliberately mobilized its million-strong army to clean up the martial world?
It was because more than half of the military force called the so-called “million-strong army” was stationed permanently along the border regions.
Originally, if a country’s territory was large, then in the end, the number of enemies sharing borders with that territory was also bound to grow.
On top of that, among the remaining forces excluding the military units guarding the borders, most were also used to protect Beijing and the Forbidden City, where the emperor resided.
Because more than the lives of the people, the emperor’s own safety came first.
However, whatever the emperor’s desire for safety might be, the important point was not that.
“If they succeed in the northern expedition and completely drive out the nomads of the north, for a while there will no longer be any need to keep troops stationed in the north.”
If so, where would the imperial troops that had been in the north head then?
That was something no one could know until that time came.
“......I do not know whether the Zhengmu League has also grasped that.”
At Jin Yanghui’s mutter, his brow furrowing as he understood the meaning of Gu Yangpae’s words, Gu Yangpae answered dryly.
“That cannot be known. Also, there is no reason for us to go so far as to concern ourselves with the Zhengmu League. If those bastards collapse under the imperial family, then from our position, all we need to do is aim to profit as the fisherman.”
Having answered so, Gu Yangpae turned his gaze toward the east, where the Central Plains lay.
The Demon Cult’s long-cherished desire was, to the end, to seize the Central Plains again.
Though he owed Mujin a debt of gratitude, Gu Yangpae had no intention of giving up that long-cherished desire.