Chapter 40. The Burning Hatred (1/2)

Chapter 40. The Burning Hatred

The first Alliance-Demon War.

The result of this battle was really something like a nightmare for the Alliance.

Baek Mu Ryang, the leader of the Alliance, and the member of the three sovereigns, lost to Gongson Chun Gi.

And in addition, the Sword King stepped down from his position as the leader. Thanks to that, the Alliance lost quite a lot from this war.

Many experts died, and the central figure stepped down. Morale was also at its lowest. And unlike the Alliance, the Heavenly Demon Church earned much from the battle.

* * *

The Lion Sword King, Yu Sul Bin, looked at his senior brother, the past leader of the Alliance, with a dark face.

“……..I failed to retrieve the Moon Edge Blade Technique. Please punish me, senior brother.”

Baek Mu Ryang. He looked upon his junior with a exhausted face, and sighed.

“This isn’t your fault. It was all caused by my lack of skill. There’s no need for you to get so worried like this.”

Yu Sul Bin shook his head.

“No, senior brother. It was all because I rushed things…….. All of the uncles died in this mission. It’s my fault, senior brother.”

Yu Sul Bin began to cry as he talked. To him, his uncles were like his precious grandfathers. People that were that dear to him died in front of his eyes.

They died in the hands of the Blood Sound Demon, Ju Sang San……. Yu Sul Bin couldn’t do anything despite of being only an arm’s length away from his dying uncles.

This event truly made him realize how weak he really was. He lacked experience. He had realized that the hard way.

“It was sad that Feng Sul Zi and Feng Jin Zi had to go. But their deaths weren’t for naught.”

Baek Mu Ryang pat his junior’s back, and spoke a few words.

“You managed to survive. That alone is enough.”

“No, it’s not. I need to be punished for my misdeeds. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to live anymore.”

Yu Sul Bin sat on his knees in front of Baek Mu Ryang. He bowed down, and spoke.

“Please give me a punishment, senior brother.”

“Huh…….”

Baek Mu Ryang let out a regretful sigh as he looked at his junior brother. Yu Sul Bin was a relaxed, easygoing person.

But at the same time, the man was extremely efficient and responsible in his missions. Likewise, the man usually felt that he himself would be responsible for everything.

‘This is tiring.’

Baek Mu Ryang massaged his shoulders, and smiled inside. Baek Mu Ryang was feeling very unstable right now.

He experienced the might of the Pope, and when he was utterly destroyed by the man, he felt desperate.

This kind of feeling was not something he had ever felt before in his life.

‘Just one blow, was it?’

It didn’t even look like the Pope gave it his all. A light punch. Baek Mu Ryang wasn’t even able to take that. It was saddening.

His sky-high pride was shattered in an instant, and it even made him feel like it was a shame to not have died there on the battlefield.

Following the defeat of Baek Mu Ryang, the Alliance had to suffer from the Pope’s wrath. A massacre. Because of a single man, the pope, the whole situation flipped 180 degrees.

If the monk from the Shaolin temple, the Godly Monk Kongye, didn’t intervene, the casualties would’ve been even higher.

‘Didn’t the great monk lose an arm while trying to block the Pope’s attack…….’

The price for blocking the Pope’s attack was too high. Kongye was one of the strongest martial artists even among the fifteen guests, and yet…….

Even he wasn’t able to block the oncoming attack, and lost an arm. Truly, the Pope’s power was frightening.

‘Didn’t the Pope enter a Godly Realm already?’

The realm above the Harmonious stage. The towering wall that even the strongest experts didn’t dare to climb. The realm that one would reach after climbing that wall would be the Godly Realm.

Perhaps the Pope already reached that state, Baek Mu Ryang thought.

“Punish me, senior brother.”

Baek Mu Ryang was snapped awake from the words of Yu Sul Bin. He immediately sighed in his mind once more. Taking responsibility for all this trouble and stepping down was something that Baek Mu Ryang should’ve naturally done.

Something that immense happened mere days ago. Did Baek Mu Ryang have to give out the punishment and stir up the Alliance once again, especially when it was beginning to calm down? It seemed unnecessary.

That was why Baek Mu Ryang felt bothered when Yu Sul Bin simply came and started to ask for a punishment. Right now, Baek Mu Ryang needed peace and quiet, but everyone around him simply wouldn’t let him go.

‘It is tiring.’

Baek Mu Ryang looked up at the sky with a tired face. He didn’t want to do anything right now. He just wanted to rest.

* * *

The Heavenly Demon Church, Gansu Branch. In the Resting Pagoda, there was a casket. In the casket lay Jo Gi Chun, and in front of it stood Gongson Chun Gi and Cho Ryu Hyang.

“I heard what happened.”

A stuffy voice. Gongson Chun Gi thought for a long time, and looked at his disciple.

“It must’ve been hard for you.”

Cho Ryu Hyang couldn’t say anything. He simply looked at his dead teacher with pale, lifeless eyes.

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His eyes were all puffy from crying, and his face held no life. Gongson Chun Gi, looking at that, pulled out a small gourd from his sleeve and opened his mouth.

“This guy, did he enjoy drinking?”

“……..I don’t really know.”

A dry, raspy voice flowed out of Cho Ryu Hyang’s mouth. His tired self somehow managed to open his mouth.

“Is that right?”

Gongson Chun Gi sat down on the edge of the casket, and opened his mouth.

“You know, it doesn’t really look like this boring fellow drank much, especially when you take a look at his personality. What do you think?”

Cho Ryu Hyang thought for a bit, then nodded.

“Probably.”

Cho Ryu Hyang never saw his teacher drink. It didn’t really look like his teacher liked to drink, either.

“Then I’ll have to drink this in his stead. I brought a good one on purpose, but to think it would be wasted like this.”

Gongson Chun Gi drank a few sips directly from the gourd, then suddenly asked Cho Ryu Hyang a question.

“By the way, do you know anything about this fellow’s family?”

“……..”

Cho Ryu Hyang couldn’t respond. That was because he didn’t know about it.

‘I didn’t know much about teacher.’

Indeed. When he thought about it, he didn’t know a single thing about Jo Gi Chun.

In the past, they always talked about math and formations, pretending that they knew everything about each other already. Pretending that they understood each other perfectly. That’s how they functioned.

But when Cho Ryu Hyang actually tried to think about his teacher, he came up with nothing. Did his teacher like drinking? Who was his teacher’s family? He didn’t know the most basic thing about teacher.

He felt desperate. When Gongson Chun Gi realized that his disciple’s face was getting darker, he opened his mouth.

“I’m going to give the corpse to his family. What do you think?”

“…….I think that would be for the best.”

Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t feel that he had the right to hold onto the corpse. He was even shameful that he was here in the first place, when he knew next to nothing about his teacher.