Chapter 289

Chapter 289

Our good Pyeong. What comes after ten?

That’s right. Twenty. After ten comes a hundred. After a hundred comes a thousand. After a thousand comes ten thousand.

As expected of my nephew. You’re so smart. You haven’t forgotten what I taught you. I wonder who you take after to be this smart.

……Then, homework. Pyeong. Count to one hundred thousand.

No more, no less, exactly one hundred thousand. Until then, no matter what happens, don’t look outside.

Even if you smell something, even if someone screams, even if flames surge up, you must not come out of here until you count to one hundred thousand. Absolutely not. Understand?

If you do your homework well, Uncle Gak will buy you the candy you like. So absolutely don’t come out until you count to one hundred thousand.

Until you finish your homework, Uncle Gak will go somewhere for a bit.

If, just if.

If Uncle Gak doesn’t return by the time you count to one hundred thousand, come out and run north.

If you’re hungry, find and eat the plants Uncle Gak taught you about, if you’re thirsty, find safe water to drink, if you want to sleep, dig a burrow…….

And go like that to the hill in the north toward the secret base we made together with Uncle.

If you wait there, Uncle’s friends will surely come to rescue you.

Now, let’s start. One. Two.

You must absolutely not open this door until you count to one hundred thousand. Understand?

Never open it.

—Kurururung!

You damn demon bastards. I’m over here—!!!

『Report from Yunnan Branch to Main Alliance.

The annihilation of Squad Leader Sugak and Changcheon Corps 3rd Squad, who were dispatched to Yunnan and assigned to the mission of rotating protection of villages near the border, has been confirmed.

Judging by the skill, it appears to have been an attack by a powerful greater demon, and given that they couldn’t even properly resist, we presume an overwhelming opponent appeared.

The Yunnan Branch cannot carry out a subjugation operation alone. We request reinforcement of at least elder-level personnel from major sects, and if possible, Ten Celestials-level manpower.

We request reinforcement.

We request reinforcement. We request reinforcement. We request reinfor……

Yunnan Branch Head of the Murim Alliance, Seoju Baesang.』

Cleaning up the demons in Qinghai didn’t take as long as expected.

“I didn’t think we could handle it this quickly.”

—The space where people can live wasn’t that small to begin with.

“Eoh, you scared me.”

After dealing alone with a group of demons breaking off on a side path, as Jeokyeol was muttering to himself, I approached behind him and casually struck up a conversation. Jeokyeol, recognizing my presence, hastily clutched his chest and let out a sigh. Soon after, Jeokyeol narrowed his eyes at me.

“I thought my heart stopped. Young Master. Everything’s good, but can’t you make some sound when you move around? Damn. You’re a ghost so I can’t sense any presence.”

—How can a ghost make sounds? I’m not a living person.

“That’s true, but…….”

—Would someone called Chillyun be so weak-hearted? Build up your courage. More importantly.

Chuckling and teasing Jeokyeol once, I continued what I was saying.

—Were you curious about why we could handle the demons and villages so quickly?

“I didn’t say it out loud, but it was faster than expected.”

—Because we originally expected several weeks.

“I thought it would take at least a month no matter what.”

—A month…….

“Actually, even a month felt like a tight timeframe. No matter how many masters are here, Qinghai is rather large.”

—That’s true.

What kind of place is Qinghai?

It’s an incredibly vast region where most of the area consists of mountain ranges hundreds of zhang high.

Even compared to Henan where Shaolin is located, Qinghai is easily five times larger. Moreover, Qinghai’s reality is that the mountain terrain is extremely treacherous, with cliffs and bizarre rocks scattered everywhere. Given that, actively undertaking anything in Qinghai is no ordinary matter.

In that sense, Jeokyeol’s opinion that even a month would be tight for handling Qinghai’s demons wasn’t wrong at all. That would have been the case under normal circumstances.

But this case is a bit different.

—Qinghai has treacherous terrain. So treacherous that even demons can’t freely roam about.

“Hmm.”

—The land is so vast that normally it wouldn’t show, but the current situation is different. After all, the demons’ goal isn’t to occupy Qinghai but to push into the Central Plains.

No matter how vast Qinghai is, there are bound to be key passages one must go through to reach the Central Plains.

Of course, because Qinghai is so vast, there are dozens of such passages, but even so, the fact that there are passages one must go through doesn’t change. Not all demons can leap over cliffs or fly.

Then couldn’t we use that situation too?

—Demons advance following demonic energy. And demonic energy is ultimately like air.

“Mm.”

—If it’s like air, we can artificially control its flow. Even if we can’t adjust all directions, if there’s a skilled mystical practitioner, making the demonic energy flow more densely in one direction isn’t difficult.

One of the purposes of rescuing countless villages was that. While saving the common people is important, we intended to use each of those villages as an axis to create a massive formation.

—Toehui’s strength is real. Once we limit the demons’ routes of advance, Toehui can take care of the rest by seizing the leader position of the Hundred Ghosts’ Night Parade. That’s why it didn’t take long.

“It’s good that it didn’t take long… but isn’t another aspect bad?”

—What do you mean?

“Didn’t the demons gather that much faster? They’ll advance to Sichuan quickly.”

—Well, that’s not really our concern, is it? The sects of Sichuan will handle it themselves.

“……?”

—I’m joking.

I chuckled at Jeokyeol, who looked at me with an odd expression, and continued my explanation.

—Anyway, reaching Sichuan doesn’t really matter.

“Doesn’t matter?”

—That’s right. Because the speed at which demonic energy encroaches on the Central Plains continent itself hasn’t changed.

The fact that we artificially twisted the flow of demonic energy and limited it to a few places ultimately means we did nothing to the demonic energy itself. And the demonic energy we did nothing to will literally encroach on Qinghai at the expected speed and then penetrate Sichuan.

Since the speed at which demonic energy reaches Sichuan is the same, the speed at which demons reach Sichuan is likewise the same. Of course, there’s the problem that demons that would have originally arrived in Sichuan scattered one by one have now gathered…….

—Actually, it’s good news for Sichuan.

“Good news?”

—Because they’re gathered. They don’t need to respond broadly but can concentrate their full power in one place to crush them.

What’s more frightening between a disciplined army and bandits rampaging scattered everywhere?

Normally, a disciplined army is naturally more frightening. If it’s a proper army, the command structure is solid and supplies flow well. No matter how strong bandits rampaging everywhere are, they can’t beat an army. However.

If you think of the opponent as demons, moreover, if you look at it not from the dimension of whether you can win or not but whether the damage is great or not?

—It’s important not to give demons a chance to grow.

The story changes again.

—They can crush them before giving them a chance to grow, so those currently active in Sichuan probably see this as good news. If they spread widely and start massacring common people, that’s the characteristic of demon hordes—growing exponentially, isn’t it?

“That would be true.”

—Either way, handling Qinghai is helpful to both sides. But the problem is from here on.

“From here on?”

—There’s something we need to do now that we’ve handled Qinghai, isn’t there?

“Hmm.”

Weakening Heukya’s power and strengthening Toehui’s power.

This was accomplished to some extent by handling Qinghai. If I had my way, I’d like to handle other places like Gansu or Liaoning too, but that’s probably impossible due to time constraints.

“What should we do now? Join up with the Central Plains people and prepare to defeat the demons?”

—That wouldn’t be bad either…….

“But it wouldn’t be bad?”

—There’s something more important.

“What’s that?”

—Evacuating those who are isolated.

“……Ah.”

Understanding what I meant, Jeokyeol quietly gave his answer.

“You mean the martial sects in regions occupied by demons.”

—Right.

Yunnan and Hainan. Guangxi. Liaoning. Gansu. Shaanxi.

It’s merely speculation, but even excluding Qinghai now, there’s a high probability that a tremendous number of demons are advancing toward the Central Plains from all over. And among them, the most problematic are Yunnan and Hainan.

—We don’t need to separately evacuate Gansu and Liaoning. Because the land is vast and there are few people, there’s a high probability that basic measures have already been taken and the martial sects have withdrawn. But.

“Yunnan… has many people.”

—That’s right.

Dianqiang is a Taoist sect, and especially a sect that focuses on protecting its region.

If Dianqiang tried to protect the people of Yunnan, there’s a high probability they gathered people in one place and deployed a defensive battle. Since ancient times, Yunnan was governed by the Dali Kingdom, so even if they fled to the Central Plains, they’d have a hard time being welcomed, and Yunnan’s dense jungle is an environment more friendly to demons than humans.

—If we can rescue Dianqiang Sect and Hainan Sect and have them join the Murim’s defense line, needless to say, it would be helpful in the current situation.

“Simple story.”

Huwoong! Huwoong!

Understanding my words, Jeokyeol nodded and raised his gaze upward. A huge shadow already cast overhead.

“Sect Leader—!!! The formation installation is completely finished up to the last village!”

—You’re here.

Seeing Seohwa riding a crane and shouting, I smiled broadly, and Jeokyeol shook his head side to side and shrugged his shoulders before speaking.

“It’s strange, looking back. I thought Young Master would say you’d rescue the Main Cult first.”

—Why?

“Isn’t it close?”

—Of course it is.

Rescue the Divine Cult? Who, us?

—Would there be a need?

I chuckled and shook my head. No matter how weakened the Divine Cult is now, it’s not to the extent that they need our help.

—If they wanted to, the Divine Cult has the power to cut straight through and reach Sichuan in a straight line.

“You know the Main Cult well.”

—I’ve faced them to the point of being sick of it.

Giving a light answer, I looked at the descending crane of Sinui. The sight of the crane that was flying from the edge of the field of view, gradually growing larger and covering the entire area.

—We don’t have much time.

—It’s been more than ten days and nights since the Great Seal was destroyed. Soon the mountain ghosts will completely transform into demons.

Once the mountain ghosts become demons and demonic energy completely invades the Central Plains, Heukya will move immediately. To destroy the Great Seal in Beijing.

—The time remaining is about two weeks. We need to finish all preparations before then.

Can we do it?

Looking at Jeokyeol with such eyes, Jeokyeol grinned and drew his sword.

“Two weeks.”

“More than enough.”

At the sight of Jeokyeol, whose confidence was second to none, I let out a hollow laugh and shook my head.

“Let’s hurry, Sect Leader!”

Now, it was time to go rescue Dianqiang.