Chapter 186 – Opening Ceremony (3)

Baek Wei-hyang, the third military head of the Murim Alliance, and Wei Jisang, the Hunan Branch leader, felt lost in this unexpected situation.

The Blood Sect, they knew, would have given them a proper fight in the open.

“Negotiate… military head. Wouldn’t this be like abandoning hostages if we chose to attack?”

That was the biggest problem.

They were the Murim Alliance because they only spoke of justice. It would eternally tarnish their name if public opinion was no longer on their side because they gave up on the prisoners and attacked the Blood Sect.

“We were caught off guard.”

Elder Baek Wei-hyang clicked his tongue. This was as if the weakest point of their alliance was being stabbed.

The shock was short-lived, but Baek Wei-hyang fell into a concerned state.

Wei Jisang then asked him.

“How should we proceed with this? Military head. If we attack them like this, the followers of the other sects will criticize us.”

“That is true. However, moving how they want us to would make us look equally ridiculous.”

This was a challenging situation for them.

But if they chose to negotiate for the captives, their plan to destroy the Blood Demon’s roots would become a waste.

The impact this will have in the future would be hard to predict.

If this became a long war, things might return to how it was 20 years ago.

“There is more to it than that.”

“What?”

“… it seems like the Blood Sect is different from before.”

“Different? Just looking at what they are doing now, their tricks and captives…”

“The method is odd.”

“What do you mean by….”

“It is still too early to be sure, so let us talk about this later,”

“Then, how are we going to deal with this now?”

The elder smiled at Wei Jisang’s question.

“Hostages don’t have to be alive to be used.”

Wei Jisang’s face went stiff upon hearing this.

“W-we apologize. This old man’s skills seem to be poor. It doesn’t seem possible to treat this poison that had seeped into her brain.”

“Huh….”

Seo Kalma sighed upon hearing the physician’s words.

Of course, it wasn’t just him. The other physicians had also said the same thing. Baek Ryeon-ha, daughter of the previous sect leader, was still unconscious due to the poison that had seeped into her brain.

It was done by Gu Jae-yang, the Blood Leader.

Even physicians who said it was safe and were confident they could handle the poison had given up on finding the cure.

“That man hasn’t spoken yet?”

At my question, Yang Jeon, the Third Blood Star, stood up from his chair and apologized.

“The intensity of the torture method is being increased, but his mouth is still sealed.”

What a poison-like man.

Actually, I had thought about using my illusion skill to show him the man with the golden eye. I thought it might have worked since Mu Ack had fallen for it once, but it didn’t seem to work on a person with a broken dantian.

I don’t know if it was because he had consumed so many poisonous plants and medicine on his road to becoming the Poison Emperor. Still, nothing we tried has made him speak.

‘Is there anything that he could not deal with? Should we torture him with random clues?’

Only the Great Doctor had enough medical skills to detoxify Gu Jae-yang’s poison.

We had sent someone to Zhejiang province, where the Great Doctor had been last seen. However, with such large distances, even if we successfully persuaded him, he would take at least a month to make the journey.

Internally, there was no other way to protect Baek Ryeon-ha’s brain using either qi or medicine now.

-Baek Ryeon-ha is also very pitiful. Sorry.

I felt bad after hearing Short Sword’s words.

I don’t know how she fell for his tricks, but how depressing it would be if we lost her life due to such an enemy.

At that moment, one of the elders spoke up.

“Well, we can’t do anything about it right now, so let’s move on to a more urgent agenda.”

“First Blood Star!”

Jang Ryong was called out.

Perhaps because he was not a supporter of Baek Ryeon-ha, he wasn’t interested in her well-being.

Clearly, some of the other Blood Sect leaders didn’t like this attitude. Seo Kalma looked distinctly uncomfortable.

Of course, these were the ones who supported Baek Ryeon-ha. The First Blood Star, Jang Ryong, continued without caring.

“Blood Demon, the enemies could cross the distance in a day and a half. We need to prepare some measures.”

Hearing this, my teacher, the Ghastly Monster, raised his eyebrows and said.

“Ei, First Blood Star, I already planned to buy time by negotiating with the captives. What other measures do we have to come up with?”

Jang Ryong snorted after hearing Hae Ack-chun’s words and said.

“… do you think that would succeed? Fourth Elder.”

“What?”

The smile vanished from Hae Ack-chun’s face.

Did he forget my teacher’s title simply because he had been away for 20 years?

“This…”

Teacher was about to say something to show his displeasure, but Dan Wei-kang asked first.

“Then do you think we will fail?”

Jang Ryong gave a clear answer to this question.

“Yes.”

The atmosphere in the room became chilly. After all, this was my initiative.

But confirming that he thought it would fail was an act that went directly against me.

-I don’t think they like you very much.

Short Sword said it.

From the removal of the government to the success of this strategy, most of the sect’s leadership had agreed to the hostage negotiations that would take place later.

The person who had openly opposed this was the First Blood Star, Jang Ryong.

Even just a few days ago, he had insisted on executing all those who didn’t follow the teachings of the Blood Sect. He said that it was meaningless to negotiate with the Murim Alliance.

“Against the Blood Demon’s will….”

The Fourth Blood Star, Do Jang-ho, was about to say something to him, but I raised my hand to signal him to stop.

And I said.

“Why do you think it will fail?”

Tak!

Jang Ryong looked confident at my question and put something on the table.

It was a pile of letters and secret documents that had codes written on them.

The other elders took them and began to read.

Noh Seong-gu, my head of the guard, brought a few to me.

‘This…’

There was a lot of important information written inside.

These letters were exchanged within the Murim Alliance, the same groups coming here. This must be information from their internal spies.

-How did he get this?

Just as it looked, they had planted spies.

Baek Hye-hyang’s faction had planted spies in the Murim Alliance and their branches over a longer period of time compared to Baek Ryeon-ha’s faction. The quality of the information itself would definitely be different.

Jang Ryong then continued,

“As you all can see, the Murim Alliance plans to wage this war against our sect even though they might go against public opinion.”

It was as he said.

The contents of the letters that were exchanged could be summarized as such. If any branch sent in a letter for instructions, the Hunan Branch, who was their leader, would not change their stance. The letter indicated for them to keep moving.

“This isn’t something to be taken lightly.”

“If this is true, then you can see why I was against this plan from the start.”

Some of the Blood Stars were agitated. Certainly, according to these letters, the Murim Alliance would even give up their honor.

At that moment, Hae Ack-chun said in a disapproving voice.

“Huh! If this is fake information, what can we do?”

It made sense.

It was common to use spies during wartime to spread false information to create confusion.

Information obtained by the First Blood Star, Jang Ryong, could quickly be spread according to the enemy’s ulterior motives.

Jang Ryong spoke in a heavy voice.

“These documents and information sent by our spies to each branch match. If they are even a little conscious of public opinion, then they would try to fix that. However, I was informed that those they had sent around the region had turned back. How do we explain this?”

“That…”

“If what is being said is true, we will be fighting an all-out war with Murim Alliance troops numbering close to 20,000.”

18,000, to be exact.

It was a number that couldn’t be taken lightly. It was almost twice our own strength.

Even if there was Dan Wei-kang on our side, who had gone beyond the wall, and I, who was close to it, the number of variables was huge.

Dan Wei-kang then spoke.

“Then, speak your opinion.”

“It’s quite simple. We can execute all the captives except those who agree to enter our sect. Before the Alliance troops arrive, we can scatter and then move this sect according to its actual ideals.”

“Actual ideals?”

“The gap between the Murim Alliance and us is huge, so it will be a power struggle.”

I cannot deny that.

I knew that even if we gathered the entire sect here, we would fall short of 16,000. We were the single largest group in size after the Dual Martial Forces, but we still fell short of the Murim Alliance.

“If we recklessly gather in one place like we do now, we will end up just provoking a fight. If there is no other clear solution, then we must do that.”

Some of the other Blood Stars nodded as if there was truth to this. Even Hae Ack-chun only kept looking at him but didn’t seem to want to bring up an objection.

‘Hmm.’

Before my regression, I thought that the internal workings of the Blood Sect were like this because of the people involved, but it seems that wasn’t all of it. It appeared that a structure forced it to operate like that.

Jang Ryong smiled.

“The Blood Demon is still young and has less experience than any of us, so he is more likely to make mistakes. But the Blood Demon is the leader of the sect. Each of his decisions would affect the fate of countless members of our sect. Do not let 20 years of our efforts end in vain because of stubbornness, and please lead the sect wisely.”

In other words, he was saying that if I could not refute it, I should follow his words.

“Negotiations will continue until the end.”

‘…?!’

Jang Ryong’s face distorted after hearing my words. He jumped from his seat and said,

“What will you do if all-out war happens? Can you take responsibility for that?”

To that, I responded.

“First Blood Star. Would you like to make a bet?”

“Bet?”

He frowned at my words.

His sharp eyes were narrowed as he looked at me. On the other hand, Hae Ack-chun was shaking his head.

Jang Ryong, not knowing this, then asked,

“What kind of bet?”

“If the negotiations fail, I will grant you anything you want.”

The First Blood Star’s eyes shone like he had caught his prey. This was a chance that wouldn’t come easily.

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

The man smiled wildly as those words came from my mouth. He must have thought that he was dreaming.

“Then it cannot be helped if the Blood Demon speaks so confidently.”

He was the one who was pretending to reluctantly accept his. Now it was time to teach the price of success.

“However, if the negotiations are successful, you will repent your actions against the head of the guard whose father died an unjust death in front of the sect members at the official enthronement ceremony for the Blood Demon. You will also hand over the wealth you accumulated through operating that fake merchant union to us.”

‘….!!’

His smiling face became stiff as he heard this, and Noh Seong-gu was visibly shocked.

I ensured he would be given a chance to avenge his father’s unjust death.

That night.

It was around dawn when everyone was asleep.

A man dressed as someone from the Blood Sect cautiously entered a building. This was where prisoners from the Guangxi Province Murim Alliance were being held.

‘Foolish people, gathering captives like this.’

They didn’t realize they couldn’t fit 1,500 people into one building, no matter its size. Well, it wasn’t even their own base, so it probably felt fine.

Having them together here was good for him.

The man looked around and found someone.

‘Come on now!’

It was Oh Jaso, the branch leader.

He looked at Oh Jaso and said silently.

[Leader. Leader!]

Hearing this voice in his head, Oh Jaso raised his head, and the man who had woken him up said.

[… if there is no sacrifice from the people, it is a situation where we all have to retreat. The decision of the branch leader and the other members is needed.]

“Ahh….”

Hearing this, Oh Jaso’s expression toughened and woke the rest of the members. Once he had woken them up, he relayed to them what had been said, and they, as once, bit their tongues.

The other captives followed suit.

‘I will soothe their sacrifice with the blood of the Blood Sect.’

Seeing countless people biting their tongues and dying, the spy expressed his gratitude for their sacrifice.

He then quickly exited while evading the guards.

Shortly after the spy disappeared, Jin Wonwhi exited the building with a smile.

“Not everything is how you see it.”

The day was bright.

The forces from each Alliance branch came in the afternoon, holding the five flags as they gathered at the Guangxi Alliance Branch headquarters.

The combined forces of Yunnan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Guangdong. Their numbers totaled 18,000.

The fighting spirit of each Murim warrior from each branch was rising as they had gathered with the determination to somehow destroy the Blood Sect.

Warriors of each sect stood together in a line. In front of them were the head of each alliance branch and leaders of the alliance, sub-leaders, and their generals.

Whisper!

People from the region had come from miles away. Since it was a war between martial artists, they wanted to witness it.

The stage felt large.

‘Blood Sect scum. No matter how much you use your brains, can you defeat Baek Wei-hyang? This is what it means to have a plan.’

The stage was set, and the play would commence.

Elder Baek Wei-hyang raised his sword high and shouted.

“We had actually come here to save our brothers that are held captive there, but things have changed. Our brothers were said to have died last night after unbelievable torture.”

He augmented his voice qi to make sure it spread.

As if he wanted to make everyone who had come hear his words.

“Those wicked members of the Blood Sect insulted us by offering negotiations for our brothers. Brothers of the Alliance, raise your weapons! If we do not defeat this evil, then the justice of Murim…”

‘…!?’

But Baek Wei-hyang couldn’t continue. He couldn’t hide his shock as the gates opened and columns of people began to walk out.

They were none other than the alliance captives.

‘What happened. That….’

Oh Jaso, head of the Guangxi Branch, was walking out with rope tied around him. Those from the Murim Alliance were confused.

Whisper!

“They are alive?”

“But he said they died….”

Hearing the whispers around him, Baek Wei-hyang was dumbfounded and looked at the man beside him. He had been the spy who had infiltrated the prison last night and escaped from the Blood Sect.

“I-It cannot be. I clearly saw it with my own eyes. All of them bit their tongues in front of me.”

He couldn’t believe it.

Those who died last night were alive, and a ghost sang in his ear.