Chapter 364. The Light of Sun, Moon, and Heaven Is Nothing.

“Sect Leader, are you there?”

Just as I was about to leave the inn to eat a late breakfast, I saw the shadows of two people beneath the door.

“Who is it?”

“I am called Anpyo of the Jecheon Alliance.”

“…….”

His voice was strange. Because it sounded as though he was forcing himself to stay calm, I immediately realized something had happened. When I opened the door, a man named Anpyo was looking at me with a dark expression.

After confirming it was me, Anpyo slightly bowed his head.

“Sect Leader.”

I looked at Anpyo’s expression, then held out my hand.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

I walked down the hallway with Anpyo and knocked on a door as I spoke.

“Let’s go.”

“Coming out.”

“I said let’s go.”

“Got it.”

While descending the stairs, the Four Great Evils all filed out of their rooms and silently followed me.

Only after we had gone outside did Anpyo ask me.

“Sect Leader, will you not ask what has happened?”

I nodded.

“Well, that madman Gwangmyeong Usa must have caused an incident. An incident severe enough to make Martial Artist An’s complexion look terrible.”

“That is correct.”

I stopped for a moment and waited for the group. After Sword Demon, Ghost Demon, and Lust Demon had lined up beside me, I spoke to Anpyo.

“Let’s hear what happened.”

Anpyo looked around at us and spoke.

“Sect Leader, do you know of Tongcheon Bang (通天幇)?”

I felt perplexed and asked in return.

“Of course I know of Tongcheon Bang.”

For one, it was not an underworld sect.

It was not a sect from this region either, as far as I knew. But it was quite a famous faction in the murim world. It was also well known as a faction that bought and sold information, and it was an unusual sect—one that strived to operate its profit-making businesses in a relatively aboveboard manner, straddling the line between orthodox and unorthodox. Above all, among forces bearing the name ‘Bang,’ it was a top-tier power. And being top-tier meant there were many people belonging to the faction, so a sigh escaped me.

Anpyo spoke.

“The main stronghold of Tongcheon Bang was annihilated by Gwangmyeong Usa. Corpses and blood… well, there is no need to explain, is there?”

“Then are you saying we should go together to Tongcheon, where the situation has already ended?”

Anpyo shook his head.

“The situation has not yet ended. Gwangmyeong Usa ordered us to bring the Sect Leader.”

“Hmm.”

It seemed my uneasy premonitions until now had not ended as mere imagination after all. I asked Anpyo.

“Then, hostages?”

Anpyo answered.

“Yes. They are all women and children of Tongcheon Bang. The men, the Faction Chief, and the martial artists all died by Gwangmyeong Usa’s hand.”

“Has the Jecheon Alliance surrounded them?”

“Surrounding him is meaningless. Some fled and requested support, but in doing so, nearby factions and underworld forces that arrived to help were all annihilated as well. For now, our Alliance Leader should also be heading toward Tongcheon Bang.”

The Jecheon Alliance Leader seemed to be unharmed.

Though he was being quite sparing with his words, I could tell from Anpyo’s speech that the massacre at Tongcheon Bang was at a horrific level.

Sword Demon asked.

“How are the hostages being confined?”

“They are gathered in a wide courtyard. The walls are destroyed. On some remaining walls and even the roof… should I call them clotheslines? Thread-like things resembling spider webs are tangled everywhere. The hostages are underneath them. When an expert from the underworld side tried to enter, Gwangmyeong Usa dropped one of the strings infused with inner energy. The people below narrowly dodged, apparently. If touched, even fairly strong experts’ bodies melt. He is sitting in a meditative pose on the roof of the Tongcheon Bang main building, mocking those who have swarmed in. If all those red lines come down, the children below will all die.”

I spoke in a bitter tone.

“And then he called for me?”

“Yes. He seemed to know roughly how far we had pursued him. He told us to look for you on this side.”

Lust Demon assessed the situation once more.

“So I should understand that clotheslines capable of being infused with inner energy are connected to the roof, and Usa can drop them all at once at any time?”

“Young Master Meng, that is correct.”

I looked at the Four Great Evils. The Four Great Evils gathered around me and looked at me in silence.

Sword Demon asked me.

“Is there a plan?”

I scratched the back of my head.

“None. Let’s just go for now. He must have something to say to me.”

We headed toward Tongcheon Bang, which had met its sect-annihilating destruction, together with Anpyo. Sighs flowed endlessly from my mouth.

“He’s really become a madman.”

“You can say that again.”

“If you’re going to go mad, you shouldn’t become a madman like that.”

Now I felt I understood Gwangmyeong Usa’s intent a little. It seemed he did not wish to go mad alone. So this bastard was doing these things with the intention of driving me completely mad as well. After traveling for some time, Ghost Demon asked.

“Third Brother, is there a plan?”

I, who had been pondering the whole way, shook my head.

“None. Let’s hear what Usa wants from me.”

With that, we headed toward Tongcheon Bang without another word. In truth, I had anticipated this catastrophe. Truly, because this was my weakness.

* * *

Only after arriving at Tongcheon Bang did I realize Anpyo had been restraining his descriptions.

A tragedy far more terrible than I had imagined was unfolding. For one, though I did not know how the battle had unfolded, outside Tongcheon Bang there were many bloodstains and corpses.

There was no need to enter Tongcheon Bang at all.

Walls had already collapsed here and there, revealing the interior clearly. So it seemed the resistance of Tongcheon Bang had been extremely fierce; it was like looking at the center of a battlefield.

On walls standing here and there like pillars, the clotheslines Anpyo had mentioned stretched taut like pulled taffy and soared up to touch the roof of the Tongcheon Bang main compound. Outside that Tongcheon Bang building, underworld forces, the Jecheon Alliance, and orthodox-unorthodox forces who had come to aid Tongcheon Bang had spread out slightly and formed a battle array.

The situation had grown so large that it could be regarded as a war between the Blood Cult and the Murim Alliance.

Lust Demon sighed.

“……It is a battlefield.”

From somewhere, Gwangmyeong Usa’s voice rang out.

“Sect Leader, why are you so tardy? Take a look at how many have died because of you.”

While I looked around, wondering where this madman was shouting from, Gwangmyeong Usa suddenly appeared on the roof. He seemed to have punched a hole through the roof to move up and down.

I looked up at Gwangmyeong Usa on the roof.

“…….”

Gwangmyeong Usa looked at me and smiled.

“Are you here?”

“I am here.”

Only then did I look at the women and children beneath the clotheslines. Most of the women were shielding the children. Had they grown exhausted from crying? Or had Usa threatened them? Not a single child was crying.

Around us, countless men of the black path, as well as those who had come to avenge Tongcheonbang, were all staring in our direction. I had wondered why there were so many black path men here, but it occurred to me that they must have followed in the wake of Gwangmyeong Usa’s massacres. Several sects had already fallen, after all.

So were the eyes looking at me friendly? Not in the slightest. It was not hard to guess why. Gwangmyeong Usa must have been going around proclaiming that he had carried out these massacres because of the Hao Sect Leader.

Gwangmyeong Usa swept his gaze over the surroundings once, then spoke as though addressing his cultists.

“…Everyone, sit. There are no exceptions.”

At that, An Pyo hurriedly grabbed us and sat down on the ground.

Of course, I sat down at once as well.

Because the atmosphere truly left us no choice. We all sat on the cold ground as though we had become cultists of the Blood Cult, staring endlessly up at the Cult Leader on the roof.

“……”

Was another long speech about to begin?

Just when had I been forcibly turned into a cultist of the Blood Cult? Even First Brother, reunited with Gwangmyeong Usa after so long, had no clever solution. Without even exchanging words of reunion, he sat with us and looked at the Cult Leader.

Usa wore a long robe over his bare skin, and it was soaked entirely in blood.

In any case, because he was holding the children hostage…

We were in a position where if he told us to sit, we sat, and if he told us to stand, we had to stand.

Even then, I kept examining the material of the clotheslines attached to the wall, their length, the distance to the roof, the number of clotheslines, and the surrounding situation without pause. Even if the three Calamities flew to the roof at the same time and launched a surprise attack, it seemed Gwangmyeong Usa could easily drop the clotheslines.

In other words, there truly was no way.

I looked over the young children again and thought this.

I would rather all of you survive safely and become cultists.

Survive, do bad things, pledge loyalty to the Cult Leader, and then, one day, suddenly fall into serious contemplation about life like First Brother did and desert the Blood Cult.

How wonderful would that be?

So no matter what kind of life they lived, I merely wanted these children to stay alive. I met the eyes of a child who was staring at me so intensely it seemed he might bore a hole through me, and before I knew it, I gave a small wave and muttered.

“…Nothing will happen.”

At that, the woman beside him shielded the child and whispered.

“Don’t look.”

The woman protecting the child was looking at me the way she looked at Gwangmyeong Usa.

From the roof, the Cult Leader opened his mouth in a voice imbued with inner force.

“…The Hao Sect Leader has come to this place. The source and beginning of this massacre has arrived. All of you, look at the young Hao Sect Leader sitting over there.”

At some point, Gwangmyeong Usa’s manner and tone of speech had changed from before. It was truly the way a mad Cult Leader would speak.

The captured women, the children, the black path men who had come to help, the warriors of the sects, the warriors of the Jecheon Alliance, and even the Four Great Evildoers all looked at me at once.

The Cult Leader pointed at me.

“The people in the back cannot see you, so stand.”

I had no choice but to stand alone.

Was I truly a person without guilt?

The gazes fixed on me were truly piercing. It felt as though many people had already sentenced me to death with their eyes. They were the eyes one used to look at the person one hated and despised most in the world, and every one of them was directed at me.

The Cult Leader said.

“Hao Sect Leader I Jaha, at least you know how to read the room. I thought you might become docile after seeing some blood. That prattling mouth of yours is remarkably quiet today. I like that.”

“……”

“A little over twenty days ago, you slaughtered a great number of my cultists without restraint. Do you admit it?”

“Your cultists?”

“My hands and feet died beneath Baengeungji. They were buried together in a deep pit. By your ultimate technique, my hands and feet died, and the lunatic cultists of the Demon Cult were annihilated as well. Are you saying it was not your doing?”

Was this what it felt like to stand trial?

I nodded.

“I killed them.”

Beside me, the Lust Demon whispered to the Sword Demon.

“Master, there are children inside the houses too.”

When the Sword Demon only nodded quietly, Gwangmyeong Usa looked at the Lust Demon.

“Young Master Mong, be quiet. Have you gone mad?”

The Lust Demon looked at Gwangmyeong Usa and answered in a low tone.

“My apologies.”

It had been a very long time since I had heard the Lust Demon speak politely.

The Cult Leader asked me.

“What is the name of the ultimate technique that drove those cultists so futilely to their deaths?”

“Ilwol Gwangcheon.”

The man, whether Gwangmyeong Usa or the Blood Cult Leader, said.

“Hao Sect Leader, explain to all the cultists present here the principles and formula of Ilwol Gwangcheon. We shall listen together. If you recite a false formula or say something useless to escape the situation, I will drop one Blood Thread onto the young cultists. If the Hao Sect Leader speaks falsehoods, the cultists will be punished in your place.”

At the Cult Leader’s words, several of the women beneath the Blood Threads began to sob. Then the Cult Leader said.

“Shut up. Hao Sect Leader, confess at once.”

I looked at the Cult Leader and said.

“This is a martial art I created and learned on my own, so there is no separate formula…”

“Sect Leader, can you joke even in a situation like this?”

“It is not a joke. That is the truth. I can explain the principle. But this, too, is something my body grasped first, so it is somewhat abstruse. Of course, experts capable of understanding it will find it helpful in learning Ilwol Gwangcheon. The higher an expert’s level, the better he will understand what I mean. Cult Leader, please understand that there is no formula. Why would I make jokes in a situation like this? I’m not a madman.”

The Cult Leader suddenly turned his head, looked at someone, and said.

“Jecheon Alliance Leader, come along. You are late as well.”

The Jecheon Alliance Leader appeared with his subordinates, stopped, and assessed the situation. An Pyo hurriedly moved on all fours and approached the Jecheon Alliance Leader.

“Alliance Leader…”

The Jecheon Alliance Leader raised a hand, cutting off An Pyo’s words. He seemed to have a rough grasp of the circumstances.

The Jecheon Alliance Leader spoke to the Cult Leader on the roof.

“Usa, must you go this far to be satisfied?”

The Cult Leader put a hand to his own ear and answered in a languid tone.

“…Ju Geuk, say one more word. There is something I want to show you. In your youth, you killed no fewer rivals than the Hao Sect Leader did. It should not be an astonishing sight.”

While the Jecheon Alliance Leader was flustered, An Pyo, with outrageous impudence, grabbed the Alliance Leader’s arm and made him sit on the ground. At that, his startled subordinates all sat down as well.

The Jecheon Alliance Leader was no exception.

Even a man like this, a fierce general, had no choice but to become a cultist in this place.

Only then did I meet the Jecheon Alliance Leader’s eyes, and we both gave a slight nod at the same time.

“……”

It was not a situation where we could exchange greetings. Only then did the Cult Leader turn his attention back to me.

“Sect Leader, go ahead and talk. I will listen closely.”

The Cult Leader, who had been standing until now, folded his legs into a lotus position and fixed his gaze on me. Then he raised a finger and lightly tapped the blood thread before him. At that, the spiderweb took on the blood and spread out in every direction. Fortunately, he did not let it fall, but watching him like this, it was not difficult to tell that the Blood Cult Leader’s internal energy had grown tremendously deep.

I looked around once and drew in a deep breath.

Now it was time to explain the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven.

That meant I would be taking everyone here as my disciples. The Jecheon Alliance Leader, Eldest Brother, the Lecherous Demon, and even the Ghost Demon were no exceptions. They were all my disciples.

In other words, the Blood Cult Leader had taken all of us as his cultists from on high.

And I, from down below, took every person here as my disciple.

In truth, the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven was nothing.

Because if my disciples could survive, I was willing to teach them everything I had.