novelraw Chapter 264 : Battle of Hakbyeok (1)
Chapter 264 : Battle of Hakbyeok (1)
Chapter 264: Battle of Hakbyeok (1)
Henan Province.
Hakbyeok County.
‘Our forces are far too few to block the evil bandits.’
Abbot Gakgong of Shaolin was letting out a low groan as he stood atop a hill overlooking the encampment.
Before his eyes, hastily erected tents were lined up in rows. Inside them, wounded soldiers could be seen groaning in pain.
This was the encampment of the White Path Union.
The Henan provincial army and the martial artists of the White Path Union had joined forces to fight against the Blood Cult, whose forces were advancing southward from both Shanxi and Hebei. Yet not once so far had they achieved a proper victory in any battle.
They had not suffered a single catastrophic defeat either, but while their own number of wounded and dead steadily increased, the demonic practitioners of the Blood Cult only continued to grow in number.
‘I have no choice but to commit my strength to holding back the Blood Cult’s Ten Elders, including the Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace. Without more masters, allied casualties will only continue to rise.’
The one who had seized Shanxi and Hebei was not only the North Sea Ice Palace.
Those known as the Blood Cult’s Ten Elders—whose existence had now been openly revealed to the world—had appeared.
Among them, no fewer than three had joined this battlefield: the Ice Palace Lord Jisal Sosu, the Destruction Spirit Demonic Craftsman Sa Bul, and the Black Bone Witch Yo Uirim.
All three possessed martial might that surpassed even the perfected Manifestation Realm.
The White Path Union had sent repeated requests for reinforcements to its main headquarters, yet for some unknown reason, there had been no reply from Namgung Myeong.
It was, quite literally, a desperate situation.
Already, half of the Eight Guardian Monks and the Eighteen Arhats had met their deaths.
How much longer could they possibly hold out?
Worry shone clearly in Abbot Gakgong’s eyes.
“Abbot, why are you standing here alone?”
“……!”
At that moment, a voice came from behind him.
Though Abbot Gakgong usually maintained keen awareness at all times, he had failed to notice the approach because he was lost in heavy contemplation.
Fortunately, the newcomer was not an enemy.
A massive, bulging physique that looked ready to burst with muscle—yet streaks of gray in his hair hinted at a middle-aged man.
“Clan Head Peng.”
“Heh heh, it seems the Abbot, like myself, couldn’t get a wink of sleep.”
The Hebei Peng Clan.
No—now, the clan whose land called Hebei had been erased by the Blood Cult.
The man before him was Peng Seungsan, the Five Tiger Blade King and head of the Peng Clan.
Though they were members of the Murim Alliance rather than the White Path Union, they had joined the fight nonetheless and had been of great help thus far.
“That is so. But Clan Head, your hands are—!”
At that moment, Abbot Gakgong’s eyes trembled as he looked at Peng Seungsan.
Contrary to his words about simply being unable to sleep, Peng Seungsan’s hands were stained with dirt.
It was easy to guess that he had just buried someone.
‘That’s right… he said he lost his younger brother in today’s battle.’
Though he tried to appear cheerful, Peng Seungsan’s gaze was steeped in deep sorrow.
Only a few hours earlier, in the battle against the Blood Cult, his own younger brother had fallen before his eyes, sacrificed to a horrific demonic art.
Yet he dared not display his grief.
He was not an ordinary martial artist—he was the head of the Peng Clan.
What had happened to him was hardly unique on this battlefield.
Families of soldiers groaning in pain from their wounds, and families of martial artists returned as cold corpses, were wailing in despair night after night.
If even he were to reveal his sorrow in such a situation, morale would surely collapse.
And so Peng Seungsan had suppressed his emotions, quietly recovered his brother’s body, buried it, and returned.
‘…Even the Peng Clan is suffering greater losses after coming here.’
Unlike the exterminated Jinju Eon Clan, most members of the Peng Clan had survived.
The moment the Blood Cult began its full-scale assault, unlike the Eon Clan who had responded loosely and complacently, the Peng Clan had focused entirely on escape from the very beginning—leading the commoners with them and pouring all their strength into fleeing south.
As a result, not a single member of the Eon Clan survived.
It differed from the Peng Clan’s usual image of pursuing dominance even among the orthodox factions, yet in hindsight, it had been an exceptionally wise decision.
‘With that choice, they saved countless living beings who would have otherwise died horrific deaths.’
In Hebei, the commoners were being utterly massacred by the Blood Cult’s demonic practitioners.
The Blood Cult was a congregation of fanatics and lunatics who longed for the destruction of the world.
Unlike the Demonic Cult that had invaded the Jianghu in the past, they carried out indiscriminate slaughter.
And yet, there was something puzzling.
Why had the Peng Clan made such a decision this time?
Abbot Gakgong slowly spoke.
“Clan Head Peng. Your heart must be heavy, but may this monk ask you one thing?”
“Yes, please ask.”
“How were you able to make such a bold decision—to abandon the Peng Clan’s lands and lead the commoners south?”
“……”
At Abbot Gakgong’s question, Peng Seungsan fell silent for a moment.
Multiple emotions crossed his eyes.
Then his gaze turned toward a single spot.
Toward a young man and woman who had just returned from battle and were taking the lead in treating the wounded.
“He was a child I always thought of as immature and foolish.”
They were none other than his own children, Peng Daeho and Peng So-hye.
“But the day before the Blood Cult invaded, that boy came to me with eyes I had never seen before and said this: that a colossal evil would arise—one the Peng Clan alone could never oppose. And that this colossal evil sought not only to destroy Hebei, but the entire world.”
“!!”
Abbot Gakgong was startled by the revelation that Peng Daeho had known of the Blood Cult’s true nature in advance.
But Peng Seungsan’s words were not yet finished.
“At first I scolded him, saying it was nonsense. But gradually, I became shaken. The deeds of the Blood Cult he described were far too detailed and precise.”
“How could he have known such things…?”
“When I asked him the same question, he answered like this.”
At Peng Seungsan’s next words, Abbot Gakgong could not help but be horrified.
“He said he had been fighting them for a long time already.”
“……!!”
“Dark Heaven Venerable.”
“!!”
Abbot Gakgong’s eyes shook as though struck by an earthquake.
Dark Heaven Venerable Tang Sewoon.
Why was that man’s name being mentioned now?
“Hoo… Tang Sewoon. He said that everything he had done so far was for the sake of stopping the Blood Cult. That after speaking with the Sword Emperor, he had secretly gathered those who shared the same will under the name of the Jecheon Unit, and had been blocking the Blood Cult from the shadows.”
“!!!”
“I thought him still a mere child. Yet while I was drunk on the poison of peace, my son was running himself ragged to save the Jianghu. I have nothing but shame.”
“…….”
“And lastly, he said this as well. What truly makes the Peng Clan the Peng Clan is neither the vast estates nor the secret manuals and martial arts left behind by our ancestors, but the conviction and will to save our family and the commoners of Hebei together.”
“!!”
After finishing those shocking words, Peng Seungsan slowly looked at Abbot Gakgong.
“Abbot. And the reason we were able to come all the way to Henan was because of the arrangements made by the Dark Heaven Venerable, as conveyed through that boy.”
“?!”
For a long while, Abbot Gakgong could not bring himself to say a single word.
His mind was far too chaotic and tangled.
Tang Sewoon.
Abbot Gakgong had believed him to be someone who had abandoned righteousness and fallen onto a twisted path.
But the truth was completely different.
Could it be that even his defection to the unorthodox side had been guided by a greater cause that Abbot Gakgong had never dared to comprehend?
At the moment his thoughts turned completely blank, the image of his departed master came to mind.
The Divine Monk, Gongsung Daesa.
—Go back now.
—……My resolve will not change.
—I already know.
His master had not stopped him from seeking revenge for Il-ryun.
He had only looked at him with endlessly sorrowful eyes and spoken those words.
After wounding the heart of his master, who would soon depart this world, and turning away, Tang Sewoon had appeared before him.
To be honest, rage had surged within him. To him, Tang Sewoon looked like an evil specter who had stolen what little life his master had left.
—An unorthodox villain takes away a disciple, and now you take away a master as well.
—I will watch until the very end to see whether you were worth it.
He had spoken those words while filled with nothing but malice.
But now that time had passed, there was nothing left to watch.
He had been wrong, and Tang Sewoon had been right.
“The Abbot asked me one question, so now I wish to ask one in return.”
At that moment, Peng Seungsan continued.
“How long do you intend to keep turning away from the truth?”
“-!!”
Abbot Gakgong was unable to answer.
The words pierced his chest like a sharpened blade.
In truth, Abbot Gakgong was now trapped in a severe Inner Demon.
He had believed that he was exacting revenge for his disciple, yet ever since he had washed the Demonic Alliance in blood, a lingering doubt had continued to gnaw at him.
A doubt that those he had slain were not the true targets of his vengeance.
And after meeting Sewoon in Gansu, that doubt had only grown stronger.
“Wasn’t the aura left on Il-ryun’s corpse strikingly similar to the Unknown Demonic Qi emitted by the villains of the Blood Cult?”
“……”
That was it. There was only one reason his Inner Demon had grown so large.
The moment he came face-to-face with the Ten Elders of the Blood Cult, he realized it.
They were the true culprits who had killed his disciple.
Yet it was unbearably difficult to accept.
Because that would mean the countless acts of slaughter he had committed so far were not acts of revenge, but deeds manipulated by demonic forces.
But….
“That is so. Everything was my fault.”
Now, he had no choice but to admit it.
Amitabha.
Abbot Gakgong sincerely felt ashamed of himself as he recited the Buddha’s name.
Only now did he finally understand what his master’s words had meant.
‘What in the world have I… been doing….’
Abbot Gakgong clenched his eyes shut and trembled violently.
Seeing this, Peng Seungsan felt deep pity for him.
Swoooosh!
Boom! Kuku-boom!
“!!”
“-!!”
Suddenly, both men snapped their heads in one direction.
Their expressions hardened grimly.
An overwhelming surge of energy was sweeping in like a raging storm.
A considerable force was charging fiercely toward this place.
Moreover, the one leading them at the front radiated a presence that did not fall short of Abbot Gakgong’s own.
Flash!
Fla-bat!
The two figures transformed into streaks of light and shot toward the source of the disturbance.
“Enemies!!”
“Everyone, assume battle formation!!”
Immediately afterward, the entire encampment plunged into chaos.
The eyes of the soldiers, exhausted by despair and fatigue, filled with vigilance.
Those who approached the encampment so suddenly were far more likely to be enemies.
They had already lost too much to even think of holding onto hope.
Yet there were two people who alone rejoiced at the sight before them.
‘Good!’
‘They’ve arrived!’
Peng Daeho and Peng So-hye recognized who they were at a glance.
Instead of exhaustion and despair, dazzling hope bloomed across their faces.
Before everyone’s eyes, a banner bearing the characters for Dominance and Heaven fluttered in the wind.
“Stop!!”
At that moment, with the roar of a man standing at the very front, the advancing force halted all at once.
A massive giant, whose sheer size made Peng Seungsan seem small by comparison, stood with eyes blazing like a Mountain Lord.
His roar was not merely loud.
It carried within it a terrifying energy that felt capable of shaking mountains and splitting the earth.
Then, the man unleashed another shout filled with majestic power.
“By the command of the great Chairman of the Dominance-Heaven Assembly, I, Umun Geol, have come to this place!!”
“And lastly, he said this as well. What truly makes the Peng Clan the Peng Clan is neither the vast estates nor the secret manuals and martial arts left behind by our ancestors, but the conviction and will to save our family and, together with them, the commoners of Hebei.”
“!!”
After finishing those shocking words, Peng Seungsan slowly looked at Abbot Gakgong.
“Abbot. And the reason we were able to come all the way to Henan was because of the arrangements of the Dark Heaven Venerable, conveyed through that boy.”
“?!”
For quite some time, Abbot Gakgong could not utter a single word.
His mind was utterly chaotic and tangled.
Tang Sewoon.
Abbot Gakgong had thought of him as someone who had abandoned righteousness and fallen onto a crooked path.
But the truth was completely different.
Could it be that even his turn toward the unorthodox side had been guided by a greater cause that Abbot Gakgong had never dared to fathom?
At the moment his thoughts turned blank, he recalled his departed master. The Divine Monk, Gongsung Daesa.
—Go back now.
—……My resolve will not change.
—I already know.
His master had not stopped him from seeking revenge for Il-ryun.
He had only looked at him with endlessly sorrowful eyes and said those words.
After grievously wounding the heart of his master, who would soon leave this world, and turning away, Tang Sewoon had appeared before him.
To be honest, fury had surged within him. Tang Sewoon had looked like an evil specter who had stolen what little life his master had left.
—An unorthodox villain takes away a disciple, and now you take away a master as well.
—I will watch until the very end to see whether you were worth it.
He had spoken those words to him while filled with nothing but malice.
But now that time had passed, there was nothing left to watch.
He had been wrong, and Tang Sewoon had been right.
“The Abbot asked me one question, so I would like to ask one as well.”
At that moment, Peng Seungsan continued.
“How long do you intend to keep turning away from the truth?”
“-!!”
Abbot Gakgong could not say anything.
The words had pierced his chest like a sharpened blade.
In truth, Abbot Gakgong was now trapped in a severe Inner Demon.
He had believed that he was carrying out vengeance for his disciple, but ever since he had washed the Demonic Alliance in blood, a lingering doubt had continued to remain.
The doubt that the true target of his revenge was not them.
And after meeting Sewoon in Gansu, that feeling had only grown stronger.
“Wasn’t the aura left on Il-ryun’s corpse strikingly similar to the Unknown Demonic Qi emitted by the villains of the Blood Cult?”
“……”
That was right. There was only one reason his Inner Demon had grown so large.
The moment he came face-to-face with the Ten Elders of the Blood Cult, he realized it.
They were the very culprits who had killed his disciple.
But acknowledging it was unbearably difficult.
Because that would mean the countless acts of slaughter he had committed until now were not vengeance, but deeds played upon by demonic forces.
But…
“That is so. Everything was my fault.”
Now he had no choice but to accept it.
Amitabha.
Abbot Gakgong truly felt ashamed of himself as he recited the Buddha’s name.
Only now did he finally understand what his master’s words had meant.
‘What on earth… have I been doing….’
Abbot Gakgong squeezed his eyes shut and trembled violently.
Seeing this, Peng Seungsan felt deep pity for him.
Swoooosh!
Boom! Ku-ku-boom!
“!!”
“-!!”
Suddenly, both men turned their heads to one side.
Their expressions hardened gravely.
An immense surge of energy was sweeping in like a storm.
A considerable force was charging fiercely toward this place.
Moreover, the one standing at the forefront and leading them radiated a presence that did not fall short of Abbot Gakgong’s own.
Flash!
Fla-bat!
The two figures turned into streaks of light and flew toward the site where the anomaly had been detected.
“Enemies!!”
“Everyone, assume battle formation!!”
Immediately after, the entire encampment fell into chaos.
The eyes of the soldiers, exhausted by despair and fatigue, were filled with vigilance.
Those who approached the encampment so suddenly were highly likely to be enemies.
They had already lost far too much to even think of holding onto hope.
Yet there were two people who alone rejoiced at the sight before them.
‘Good!’
‘You’ve arrived!’
Peng Daeho and Peng So-hye recognized who they were at a glance.
Instead of fatigue and despair, dazzling hope rose across their faces.
Before everyone’s eyes, a banner bearing the characters for Dominance and Heaven fluttered in the wind.
“Stop!!”
At that moment, with the roar of a man standing at the front, the advancing force halted all at once.
A giant whose sheer size made Peng Seungsan seem laughable by comparison stood there, his eyes blazing like those of a Mountain Lord.
His roar was not merely loud.
Within it was contained a fearsome energy that seemed capable of shaking mountains and splitting the earth.
Then, once more, the man let out a thunderous shout filled with majestic force.
“By the command of the great Chairman of the Dominance-Heaven Assembly, I, Umun Geol, have come to this place!!”