Chapter 80 – Battle of Heavenly Destiny (01)
“Why not?”
“Then why do we have to form an alliance with the Demonic Cult?”
“It’s an alliance, so it’s not something grand. It’s about not opposing each other for a very short time until we defeat the Black Moon Party. Although it’s called an alliance, it’s enough just to attack each other from both sides and not encounter each other.”
“Anyway, the Demon Cult and the Black Moon Party are the same. Should we differentiate between them?”
It was a short conversation, but from the perspective of others, they were expecting me to defeat the Murim Lord, but they seemed to be repulsed by the fact that I made an alliance with the Demonic Cult as a condition.
‘To stop the Black Moon Party, the power of just one side will not be enough.’
They do not know the power of the Black Moon Party.
I don’t know that at that time, the first leader of the Black Moon Party was strong enough to defeat the Sword Saint and destroy the Demonic Cult.
Not only the first head of the party, Heo Wol, but the other heads of the second and third parties, as well as the higher-ranking heads of the sadang, were strong men who had to be classified separately even at the pinnacle of the realm.
It is difficult to deal with the rest of the executives unless they have reached the extreme state or extreme level of climax, so as a result, the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult must join forces to deal with the Black Moon.
There are no sword saints, no heavenly demons, and even if you combine the existing transcendental masters, they are inferior to the Black Moon Party. If they are not even united, they will be defeated by the Black Moon Party.
‘I expected there would be a backlash… But it’s worse than I thought.’
I thought there would be some people who would agree to it to some extent.
But they were all glaring at me with the eyes of a traitor.
‘It wasn’t a proposal like this at all, but there was a way to persuade them to attack Black Moon and then separate them from the Demonic Cult, but…’
Their main enemy is not the Black Moon Party.
Until now, the main enemy of the Murim Alliance was the Demon Cult, and the Black Moon Cult was just a new force trying to invade the central plains little by little, so if the Demon Cult and the Black Moon Cult were seen at the same time, they would attack the Demon Cult.
In order to prevent that, he openly proposed joining forces with the Demonic Cult as a condition for the Battle of Heaven’s Mandate, but thanks to that, a huge amount of opposition built up before it even started.
‘But the reason why I didn’t accuse it of being a part of the Demonic Cult as soon as I saw the proposal…’
They also know this.
Currently, the Black Moon Party is a more serious threat than the Demon Cult.
The majority of the Demonic Cult that plagued the Jungwon in the past were affiliated with the Blood Cult, and they were the predecessors of the Black Moon Party.
However, externally, the Demon Cult and the Blood Cult were treated as one, and from their perspective, they had maintained their power to deal with the Demon Cult, so now that the Blood Cult has fallen away, they cannot declare that they should put aside their grudges for a while.
At least from the perspective of the political faction that has been hostile to the Demon Cult for hundreds of years, they probably do not want to set a precedent of joining forces with the Demon Cult on their own behalf.
Moreover, even if the situation goes well, his position will be ruined when he is faced with hostilities against the Demonic Cult again, which will be a headache.
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If the Black Moon Party invades the central plains again and almost neutralizes the Murim Alliance, it will change at that time, but if it gets to that level, the Murim Alliance’s power has almost melted, making it useless.
“Huh…”
Even if the Battle of Heaven’s Mandate succeeds, they will rebel against the suggestion not to attack the Demonic Cult, and if they are already telling me to reject the suggestion, I cannot accept it.
But if you were to unilaterally tell the Demonic Cult to avoid conflict… Would they listen?
Even those who are close friends with Cheonma and Geumseonma will reject the offer.
“I am thinking of applying for the Heavenly Mandate Tournament under these conditions. Is there anyone who can help me?”
Naturally, no one raised their hand.
“If there really is no one…”
Sikbong noticed and tried to raise his hand, but at that moment, a middle-aged beggar who was watching the situation from behind ran up and snatched Sikbong’s hand.
“Remain calm. It is not your place to step forward.”
“Death penalty, but…”
“Use it…!”
When you look at the middle-aged man’s demeanor and the strong energy felt on his body, as well as the tattered cloth given to the top disciple of the Ark on his wrist, you will recognize him as one of Sikbong’s best disciples of Gajeong, the death penalty. I was able to.
‘Well… Joining the Demon Cult behind your back and raising your hand to formally join the Demon Cult have different meanings.’
I had no idea that such a troublesome situation would arise from the beginning.
But I expected this much.
‘In the end, isn’t it a group task?’
They also know that Black Moon Party is dangerous. This is because the number of Black Moon Party tricks and problems in their territory is increasing.
So, we gathered here, happy that I, who had stopped the Four Heavenly Blood Deaths, would challenge the Murim Lord to the Battle of Heavenly Destiny and actively subdue the Black Moon Party.
He was hesitating because he had to join forces with the Demonic Cult in return.
‘The face of political factions is truly troublesome.’
Looking at it this way, I seem to be a person close to a demonic cult. I saw that my fingers were itching at the thought of just beating them all down with force, making them submit, and dragging them away.
“Then, if I win the Battle of Heaven’s Mandate, will you follow the offer?”
Despite those words, they were only looking at each other.
“If you can lead to victory in this situation, a thousand people will follow you. Jade Dragon God Sword.”
Should we feel fortunate that we are not actively opposing it?
“…Okay. Don’t say anything else later.”
* *
The Murim lord cheerfully accepted the Battle of Heaven’s Mandate, and as a result, three days later, he decided to form a demilitarized army and decide whose opinion was right in front of the Four Seas.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have sent the letter late.’
I thought we would quickly gather about two participants, but it seemed that there were more people with a grudge against the Demonic Cult than I thought.
If that didn’t work, they tried to find warriors who could fill in the number, but warriors who were only moderately famous or had low status refused, saying that they might die or become crippled after being hit by the peak master of the Murim Alliance. He refused, saying he did not want to lose.
Unexpectedly, the value of the name Cheonwon Sangjon, the supreme expert and Murim lord, seems to have been great.
“Shouldn’t I help you too?”
Fortunately, Sik-bong came to see me and asked if I would participate if I couldn’t find someone before the Battle of Heavenly Destiny.
If I did that, it was obvious that the open ark would turn over and I would get scolded, and I didn’t want to ruin the relationship between Sikbong and the open ark for no reason, so I refused.
“You’re weak.”
“No, that’s still top-notch…!”
However, I thought that it should be at the peak level even if it is not at the level of the Battle of Heavenly Mandate.
The other Five Dragons and Seven Peaks participated in the expedition and were gathering one after another, except for Maeryong, who was detained. Each of them went to Geomryong Namgungjeon and argued with him, persuading him and asking him not to fight the Murim lord.
Even Paeryong and Hyeonryong were persuading Namgungjeon that he should not confront the Murim Lord head on, but Namgungjeon said this.
“I won’t cause trouble to my family by cutting myself off from the Namgung family anyway, and all I have to do is beat up Ban Gyu-seong and that’s it.”
Since Namgungjeon had a clear goal, there was nothing to worry about.
‘Rather, the one I’m worried about is this one…’
Tale.
I ordered him to go to the dormitory where Master was staying, but he refused and ran away, listening to everything else I said.
I was already having a headache recruiting people to participate in the Heavenly Mandate Battle, but I tried to leave the story to Master, but he was so stubborn that I ended up having to order Sikbong to bring Master Ok.
Of course, the moment he noticed that Master was coming, he ran away and disappeared, but the problem is that I had to keep an eye on Seolhwa running away before I could leave because I had to find people to participate in the Battle of Heavenly Destiny.
‘Just come back…’
“What’s going on? I heard you brought news of Seolhwa.”
“Have you had any problems so far?”
“I am the same as usual. So where is Seolhwa?”
First, I had a conversation with the teacher alone and explained the situation of the story and what I had been doing.
“Hmm…”
Since it was a complex issue in many ways, Master was worried, and he seemed to understand to some extent that I said that I would no longer treat Seolhwa as a friend.
“I understand what it means.”
“I apologize for arbitrarily cutting off the relationship that was established by my teacher.”
“No. If you had just passed over it, the story might have been ruined by feeling even more guilty.”
I had that thought to some extent.
If I treat Seolhwa kindly on the spot, his guilt will become worse mentally, and he will just run away thinking that he does not deserve to come back to me.
That’s why I beat the player in advance. So that Seolhwa can no longer run away from me.
“You can’t believe you’re shy even with this father. There’s no such thing as an unfilial daughter…”
Still, if I have some time, I will have the courage to come to Master Seolhwado. With that in mind, I asked her to give me some time.
“I heard that news too. I heard you decided to participate in the Battle of Heavenly Mandate?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But I heard there were no participants because the conditions were a bit problematic.”
“Hmm…”
We only needed to gather two more people, but there was no way to save those two people.
I would like to find someone to at least fill the number, but I never thought that no one would want to step forward and experience the wrath of the Murim Lord.
“Then why didn’t you come to this teacher?”
“Yes? That’s it… Master is a member of the Murim Alliance…?”
And isn’t it unfilial to involve the teacher in something like this?
“hehehehe, my daughter and my best disciple are doing something together, and I’m going to get rid of my teacher. Isn’t that too much?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind? I may become hostile to the Murim Lord.”
“I’m at the bottom of the Murim Alliance anyway, so I haven’t even seen the leader’s face, so what kind of loyalty is that?”
I was grateful that he even said that.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Cheongsim Yurimoon to take over the leadership of the Murim Alliance. It would be perfect for me to be the leader, you to be the leader of the assault, and Seolhwa to be in charge of internal affairs.”
“I’m not aiming for the position of Murim Lord, but…”
Of course, if possible, I plan to demand the resignation of the Murim lord, but up to that point, I will have to agree with other martial arts masters.
All of this was something to think about after the proposal to unite with the Demonic Cult to defeat the Black Moon Party worked.
‘Well… I don’t know if Master can compete with the Five Dragons and Seven Peaks…’
Still, I felt reassured just because the teacher said he would participate.
However, as time passed without the last one being filled, we ended up having to meet the day of the Great Battle without filling the fifth.
The list should have been submitted by Jinshi (7:00 am to 9:00 am) before the start of the Mandate of Heaven competition at 5:00 am (11:00 am to 1:00 pm). There were four people: me, Seolhwa, Namgungjeon, and Master Ok Cheonwoong. I submitted only one and was unable to fill in the last one.
If that didn’t work out, I tried to write down the names of the Three Sisters of Gyoha, but the disciples of Gaejeong seemed to have tied them up separately to prevent them from breaking into the camp unarmed on the day.
“Ha…”
“I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t be saved like this. Should I have beaten the demon dragon and made it participate here?”
“Are you going to start a war with Jinju?”
First of all, it was 5 o’clock and I had to go to the unarmed camp, so I had no choice but to trudge along. Naturally, I thought that people would have dispersed in disappointment after seeing the list that was not filled, but the unarmed field outside the Murim League was crowded with people.
‘Did you just come to see me?’
I was tired of thinking about this and that, so when Namgung-jeon waved his hand and opened a path, I followed him helplessly. As I approached the place where the participants’ name plates were hung, I saw someone’s name on the fifth name plate that I had not been able to fill in until now. I was able to confirm that it was hanging.
And the name was truly unexpected.
“……Huh? Zhuge Lotus?”
The name of Jinang Wise Woman, Jegal Yeon-ji, the Cheonbong of the Five Dragons and Seven Peaks and the treason of the Murim League, was written on it.