novelraw Chapter 147 : Chapter 147
Chapter 147 : Chapter 147
Chapter 147. Not All Instigation Is Bad.
Abbess Hyeonchok immediately led the Golden Summit Tiger-Subduing Monks, who were said to be the elite martial monks of the Emei Sect, and descended the mountain.
She couldn't rule out the possibility that the person who sent the letter had ill intentions, so she judged that it was necessary to bring a certain level of military force.
The clan head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Dang Seong-yeong, was no different.
He left the Tang Clan Fort leading the Poison Flower Squad, which was composed of the elite masters of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The meeting place was Mount Mei, located exactly halfway between Mount Emei, where the Emei Sect was located, and Chengdu, where the Tang Clan was located.
Abbess Hyeonchok and Dang Seong-yeong each headed for Mount Mei, and they happened to run into each other while moving through the mountains.
“Amitabha, I greet Clan Head Dang.”
“I greet the Abbess.”
Abbess Hyeonchok and Dang Seong-yeong exchanged awkward smiles and clasped hands greetings.
Inside, both of them were utterly bewildered.
‘Don't tell me Clan Head Dang is the one who sent the letter?’
‘Is the Emei Sect somehow involved in the disappearance of my family's kinsmen?’
Abbess Hyeonchok and Dang Seong-yeong could only think that way.
Since both of them had rushed to Mount Mei after receiving a mysterious letter, they couldn't help but be suspicious of each other.
But that was only for a moment.
Abbess Hyeonchok and Dang Seong-yeong soon figured out the situation and lowered their guard against each other.
They were well aware that both the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan had experienced mysterious disappearances more than once in recent years, so they quickly realized they were in the same boat.
“Could it be that Clan Head Dang also came after receiving a letter?”
“It seems a letter went to the Emei Sect as well.”
Abbess Hyeonchok and Dang Seong-yeong exchanged meaningful glances.
“Then, doesn’t that mean the Qingcheng Sect is also coming?”
“Amitabha, it seems so.”
Since the Qingcheng Sect had also experienced mysterious disappearances like the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan, they thought that they too must have received a mysterious letter.
However, even as they headed to the meeting place, no one from the Qingcheng Sect appeared, and the Golden Summit Tiger-Subduing Monks led by Abbess Hyeonchok and the Poison Flower Squad led by Dang Seong-yeong waited with great tension for the person who had sent the letter to appear.
About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea had passed.
“Amitabha, Amitabha!”
Abbess Hyeonchok suddenly chanted the Buddha's name and her face hardened.
“What is the matter.”
“It seems to be a trap. Everyone, prepare for an enemy attack!”
Abbess Hyeonchok shouted urgently.
“Abbot, what do you mean by that?”
“I can feel demonic qi.”
“……!”
“It seems we have been played by the Demonic Cult's scheme.”
“Th-then.”
Dang Seong-yeong’s face hardened like frost.
Masters like Abbess Hyeonchok, who had deep faith in Buddhism and had mastered the orthodox martial arts of Buddhism, were generally more sensitive to demonic qi than ordinary people.
“Poison Flower Squad, prepare for an enemy attack!”
“As you command!”
At Dang Seong-yeong’s urgent command, the martial artists of the Poison Flower Squad, like the Golden Summit Tiger-Subduing Monks of the Emei Sect, prepared for the approaching enemies.
Not long after the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan had become extremely tense and began to watch their surroundings.
Rustle, rustle.
Demonic practitioners emitting intense demonic qi emerged from the bushes one by one.
“Ra-Rakshasa Troupe……!”
A groan escaped Dang Seong-yeong’s lips.
He had recognized who they were just by seeing the evil Rakshasas embroidered on the martial robes of the approaching demonic practitioners.
The military power of the Rakshasa Troupe, one of the top-tier military groups of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, was a force capable of devastating at least the Five Great Families in half a day, let alone the Nine Sects One Gang.
That meant that the combined forces of the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan gathered here could not fight against the Rakshasa Troupe.
If a military conflict were to break out?
‘Co-complete annihilation.’
Cold sweat trickled down Dang Seong-yeong's back.
No matter if the clan head of the Sichuan Tang Clan and the abbess of the Emei Sect were together, if a military conflict were to break out, the result would not change.
He had brought the Poison Flower Squad thinking it might be a trap, but it was a situation where they were hopelessly outnumbered, a drop in the bucket.
The problem was not just the Rakshasa Troupe.
The tall young man with an enormous build was, at a glance, the Fourth Young Master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Explosion Demonic Lord Yeom Bi, and the handsome man with blond hair and red eyes next to him was the Sixth Young Master, Blood Qilin.
And…….
“U-Unrivaled New Demon!”
Dang Seong-yeong let out a cry of alarm upon spotting Jin Cheon.
He had never expected that the very person who was said to be unrivaled among the prodigies and had split the Diancang Quick Sword Clouded Void Sage in two would appear.
***
A fight did not break out.
Of course, it wasn't that there were no one who wanted to fight.
In fact, all the members of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult present wanted to fight.
As martial artists of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, wasn’t this a good opportunity to wipe out all the elites of the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan?
Furthermore, they could also deal with the Emei Sect leader, Abbess Hyeonchok, and the Sichuan Tang Clan head, Dang Seong-yeong?
This would be a great victory that would go down in history and be recorded as a military merit in the Divine Cult Historical Records.
“Can't we just kill them all? It’s a good opportunity. Slurp.”
Blood Qilin licked his lips and his eyes shone.
As if he was already excited, his eyes were already glittering with killing intent.
“No.”
“Why!”
When Jin Cheon cut him off, Blood Qilin screamed.
“It’s a golden opportunity! Let’s just wipe them all out and kill them!”
“Do you not even know the saying, ‘penny wise, pound foolish’?”
“Huh?”
“If we kill them there, it won’t cause a division in the Righteous Heavenly Alliance, but rather unite them.”
Jin Cheon’s intention was to expose the dirty deeds committed by the Qingcheng Sect and make the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan confront them.
This was part of the Righteous Heavenly Alliance division plan that Jin Cheon had conceived, so killing them now would do more harm than good.
“What do you mean by that?”
“……Anyway, it’s not happening, so stay out of it.”
Jin Cheon gave up on making Blood Qilin understand and took a step forward.
“We didn't come here to fight, so everyone calm down.”
Jin Cheon said so and looked back at Dang Seong-yeong.
“It’s been a while. Heavenly Poison Hand Dang Seong-yeong. Don’t tell me you don’t know me.”
“…….”
Dang Seong-yeong couldn't bring himself to answer Jin Cheon's words, and the reason was because of a trivial, if you could call it that, incident in the past.
Years ago, when Jin Cheon was studying at the Heavenly Martial Academy.
One day, Dang Seong-yeong had called Jin Cheon out separately and said something.
- Don’t get close to our Cheon-wi. This is not a request, but a warning.
- What do you mean by that…….
- Cheon-wi is a direct blood relative of the main family and will do great things in the Righteous Heavenly Alliance in the future. It wouldn't do for someone like Cheon-wi to associate with someone like you who has been marked.
- …….
- People should associate with those of a similar kind. You fit in with the officials from minor sects. If Cheon-wi continues to interact and associate with you, he may face difficulties in the future.
Looking back now, Dang Seong-yeong's words were correct in the end.
Dang Cheon-wi was being suspected of being a spy for the Demonic Cult just for associating with Jin Cheon, and thanks to that, the Sichuan Tang Clan was also in a very difficult position.
‘Damn it! I should have forcibly separated them back then!’
Dang Seong-yeong bitterly regretted not dealing with Jin Cheon more harshly and not keeping a tighter rein on his son, Dang Cheon-wi.
If he had just eliminated Jin Cheon back then, he wouldn't have left such a future problem, would he?
“Why are you silent? Have you already forgotten me?”
“……Of course not.”
Dang Seong-yeong closed his eyes tightly and opened his mouth.
“Then you must remember what you said to me back then.”
“Of course.”
“I felt really dirty back then.”
The killing intent that was implicitly emitted pressured Dang Seong-yeong.
The bewilderment, humiliation, and shame that Jin Cheon had felt at that time remained intact even after years, or decades if you included the time he had traveled back in time, and had never been erased.
Although it was unlikely that Jin Cheon would go on a killing spree in a fit of anger, given the situation.
“Well, let’s stop talking about the past. That's not what I came to talk about today.”
Then Abbess Hyeonchok cautiously opened her mouth.
“Amitabha, benefactor, what brings you here?”
“I greet Abbess Hyeonchok.”
Jin Cheon made a clasped hands greeting towards Abbess Hyeonchok.
The reason Jin Cheon could show such a moderate attitude was because he had no particular ill feelings towards the Emei Sect.
Moreover, the Emei Sect was always being harassed by the Taoist sects that were the mainstream of the Righteous Heavenly Alliance, so their interests aligned with Jin Cheon's to some extent.
This was not much different for the Sichuan Tang Clan.
The Sichuan Tang Clan was the family with the longest history among the Five Great Families.
However, in the Righteous Heavenly Alliance, the families that had newly risen to the ranks of the Five Great Families were given more preferential treatment, and they maintained close relationships.
Furthermore, due to the Dang Cheon-wi incident, they were under even greater pressure from the Righteous Heavenly Alliance and were cornered, so they were a force that could potentially become an ally rather than an enemy.
Jin Cheon aimed for that very point.
‘It would be easier to join hands with some of them than to fight the whole world and win.’
Jin Cheon had learned a great lesson from the actions of the first Heavenly Demon Dokgo Seong, so he had no intention of making the same mistake.
The first Heavenly Demon Dokgo Seong, and his Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, had always had to fight at a disadvantage because they had made the entire world their enemy.
Of course, Dokgo Seong's overwhelming martial power was formidable enough to make that possible, but it was an undeniable fact that it was still not enough.
Dokgo Seong had occupied the position of the number one under the heavens in each of his reincarnations, but he had never once achieved Demonic Dao’s Rule Over the World.
Jin Cheon knew that fact all too well through the Divine Cult Historical Records, so he had no intention of using the same method.
Although he pursued overwhelming martial power, he did not want to isolate the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult by making everyone an enemy.
“The reason I have called the Abbess and the Clan Head of the Tang Clan today is because of the missing monks of the Emei Sect and the kinsmen of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Those who were said to have gone missing are all dead.”
“……!”
“It just hasn’t been revealed, but it’s certain that they are dead.”
“How does your cult know that?”
“Because we have caught the one behind it.”
“C-caught the one behind it?”
“A while ago, special-grade assassins from the Heavenly Killing Sect attempted to assassinate me. But I did not die, and instead, I went after the Heavenly Killing Sect.”
“S-such a thing…….”
“I succeeded in tracking down the Heavenly Killing Sect, and after capturing and interrogating the Heavenly Killing Sect Leader, I learned a very interesting fact.”
“Don’t tell me…….”
Abbess Hyeonchok's face hardened.
“The ‘don’t tell me’ is correct. The missing Emei Sect monks and the kinsmen of the Sichuan Tang Clan were all assassinated by special-grade assassins of the Heavenly Killing Sect.”
“A-are you telling me to believe that right now?”
Abbess Hyeonchok glared at Jin Cheon with eyes full of disbelief.
“It may be hard to believe, but it is the truth.”
“Then who commissioned them? If what you say is true, then there must be someone who commissioned them, right?”
“The Qingcheng Sect.”
Jin Cheon answered briefly.
“It was the Qingcheng Sect that commissioned the Heavenly Killing Sect to assassinate some members of the Emei Sect and the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“This monk cannot believe it.”
The eyes of Abbess Hyeonchok, who said so, were truly full of disbelief.
“No matter how awkward our relationship with Qingcheng is, how can they, as a member of the same Righteous Heaven, commission the Heavenly Killing Sect for an assassination?”
Dang Seong-yeong also expressed his agreement with Abbess Hyeonchok’s words.
“Abbess! Don't believe him! The Unrivaled New Demon is now trying to stir up inner demons with his glib tongue! He clearly intends to drive a wedge between us and Qingcheng!”
“Correct.”
Jin Cheon agreed with Dang Seong-yeong's words.
“That’s right. I came here to drive a wedge between you and Qingcheng. It will benefit my cult if you are at odds with each other and fight.”
“Are you even saying that as if it makes sense?”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Don’t know anything…?”
“Not all instigation is bad.”
Jin Cheon said with a grin.