Chapter 21. The Spark of The Alliance-Demon War (1/2)
Chapter 21. The Spark of The Alliance-Demon War
The number of people that gathered in order to strike down the Heavenly Demon Church numbered around 5,000 men. Since their numbers kept on rising as others joined in, the estimated number of martial artists in their group would number about 8000 when they would fight the Heavenly Demon Church.
Thanks to the immense amount of people here, the Gansu Branch of the Alliance were extremely troubled. The people they could house in the Gansu branch were limited, so they were unable to hold all the members that came in.
Because of that, the Gansu branch rented out all the houses in the area to house the members of the Alliance. However, even that was reaching its limit. There really were an immense amount of people coming in. Since crowds of people who claimed to be allies of the Alliance kept gathering, the Gansu branch eventually had to build tents for the newcomers.
“Except for the Zhuge Clan, who went into isolationism about a year ago, every clan connected to the Alliance sent their elites. Right now, 5000 experts are under your command, and in 4 days, about 2000 more will arrive.”
The strategist of the Alliance.
Mystical Hand Sanguan Zhongda.
The old scholar, who was nearing the age of 60, was reporting something politely to a person.
There weren’t many people he had to show respect to in the martial world. The person in front of him was one of those people. That man was one of the three sovereigns, Baek Mu Ryang, the Dao Emperor.
“I made the people here quite troubled. I feel a little sorry for them.”
“We’re here to slay the great demon. Everyone here is sure to respect your decision.”
“Will they…….”
Baek Mu Ryang.
He, who had a saintly look about him just a moment ago, suddenly grinned.
“But did they truly come here because of my order? They’re really overdoing it with the amount of people they’re bringing here.”
Sanguan Zhongda had a faint smile on his face.
“They probably have an ulterior motive.”
“It’s no surprise, considering the fact that you were the one that was pulling the strings all along.”
“I just let them have a small peek at the hidden truth.”
The hidden truth. It was the fact that the Heavenly Demon Church was actually after the tomb of Ak Jung Pae, the Sword Demon.
He leaked that fact a little on purpose. The effects were immediate. Multiple clans that belonged to the Alliance gathered their elites, and sent them here. They were obviously aiming to take the legendary martial arts technique. They weren’t here to destroy the demonic church. The Alliance pretended to not notice their intent.
“By the way, do we still not have any info on who is coming from the Heavenly Demon Church?”
“No. Since they are a organization that’s quite hard to infiltrate, their actions have yet to be revealed.”
“Che, that’s always the problem.”
The Heavenly Demon Church’s trait as a religious group made them very hard to infiltrate. Even if someone managed to get in, they would always stay in the outer circle of the church. The church’s closed nature proved to be useful in keeping out information.
“The Black Moon Guild probably knows about all this at this point, right?”
“Yes, they should’ve noticed by now.”
“Who’s coming from their side?”
“I heard the Chasing Blood Lord is coming.”
“Hoh? Sang Dong Ha, that fellow’s on the move?” (TL: Chapter 15)
“Yes, sir.”
“Things are getting pretty fun.”
The Dao Emperor Baek Mu Ryang started tapping on the table next to him, and spoke.
“By the way, do you actually think that everything will go according to the plan?”
Sanguan Zhongda smirked.
“Have you ever seen anything this big ever go according to plan?”
“Yeah, you’re right. I wonder what’s going to go wrong this time…. I wonder what kind of unexpected variables there would be this time.”
“I’m not really worried about those variables. What worries me is the possibility that we would be put into the worst possible situation.”
“The worst situation……”
Baek Mu Ryang had a playful smile on his face.
surawang_21
“Are you talking about him?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not really sure about the results, even with me?”
“Right now, yes.”
Baek Mu Ryang made a sad expression when he heard this.
“Why do you think I’d be weaker than him, when we’re both one of the three sovereigns?”
The figure they are talking about.
They were talking about the Dark Demon Emperor, Gongson Chun Gi.
“I don’t think that you would lose. Don’t misunderstand……”
“Then what?”
“I just think you should try to avoid fighting him.”
“Can’t I just beat him up?”
“That would just complicate things, but if things come down to the worst, you would have to do that.”
“It’s complicated, huh.”
Sanguan Zhongda smiled.
Of course it would be hard for the likes of Baek Mu Ryang to understand. That man was only interested in fighting, so the man was a little lacking when it came to politics.
Despite all that, the reason why Baek Mu Ryang was able to become the leader of the Alliance was because of his unparalleled strength. His immense strength was what gave him power and fame.
‘If you look at it that way, Gongson Chun Gi would truly be an amazing person.’
Gongson Chun Gi possessed undisputed strength, and he also was talented in politics. Sanguan Zhongda didn’t want to admit it, but Gongson Chun Gi’s every move was something that had every possible situation imaginable accounted for. This was something that had to be noted carefully.
‘And…….’
The Heavenly Balance.
To think there was one more person who knew about it other than he.
It was quite a shock. The balance between the three powers. To think that the one maintaining it wasn’t him, but the Heavenly Demon Church…….
It wasn’t’t something he could easily accept. It hurt his pride quite a lot.
‘This is definitely something I have to look into.’
The one that planned everything up till now was Sanguan Zhongda. He was the one that made the leader make his move, and he was also the one that leaked some info to the clans. That’s how he created this immense battle between the two sides. Just to confirm one thing…….
‘If the leader of the Heavenly Demon Church truly wants to maintain the balance, he’ll try to avoid this fight at all costs.’
But even that will be too hard now. The things that were at stake here became too big.
In the worst scenario. One of them would suffer a hit they won’t be able to recover from. Then the balance would crumble. That cannot be allowed to happen.
They decided to work with the Dark Moon Guild with that purpose. If only one of the powers take a hit, the balance would crumble. Then what would happen if all three of them took a hit? The balance would be maintained.
The Black Moon Guild was actually the variable that made the two other powers hesitate from making a move.
‘Show me, Gongson Chun Gi. Prove to me that you were the real master of the martial world.’
If Gongson Chun Gi showed even a slight movement of trying to avoid the fight, Sanguan Zhongda would do anything in order to cancel the fight between the two powers.
* * *
“You found something interesting?”
Mystical Hand Sanguan Zhongda.
He was massaging his forehead as he was looking at the White Tiger Lord.
The White Tiger Lord.
Sanguan Jin Gul, Sanguan Zhongda’s nephew, nodded and spoke.
“Yes, the spy we put in the Black Moon Guild brought some interesting information.”
“The Black Moon Guild?”
“Yes. It’s about the girl that you told us to monitor carefully, Neng Ha Young. That’s why I came here in a hurry.”
“Neng Ha Young…….”
Sanguan Zhongda’s tired face turned into one of interest. Since a long time back, he had constantly tried to create inner conflicts within the guild. His strategy somewhat worked, which caused various cracks to appear in the Black Moon Guild.
But the one that was carefully fixing these cracked was Neng Ha Young. She was only 15. At that age, most girls would fanatically try to collect various accessories, but not Neng Ha Young. She was carefully trying to maintain the balance between the guild and the Alliance in the shadows. She wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
“What is it?”
Seeing the expression on his uncle’s face, Sanguan Jin Gul made a satisfied smile.
“She was trying to find a person.”
“A person?”
“Yes. It was a order that was personally given by her. Because of that, the Black Moon Guild is expending everything they have to collect information.”
“Yeah? Who’re they trying to find?”
“It’s him.”
Sanguan Zhongda tilted his head a bit when he got the document from his nephew. That was because he had seen a name that he didn’t recognize on it.
“Cho Ryu Hyang? Blue Sky Mercenaries?”
“Yes, he’s the heir to the Blue Sky Mercenaries. He’s now 11.”