CLS-Chapter 471

Chapter 471:

“Take it, you say? The Explosive Blood Pill?”

“It wasn’t my idea…”

Even Divine Beggar, who was always confident, seemed to think this wasn’t right as he trailed off.

“No, logically speaking…”

The Historian glared.

“Does the probability of survival increase if someone who survived poison once takes poison again? The probability of death increases. It’s not like Explosive Blood Pill is the type of poison you build immunity to.”

“It’s not something to blame me for. I was against it.”

Divine Beggar awkwardly made excuses.

“But when that crazy bastard sets his mind to something and pushes through, what am I supposed to do about it? Just like now, I didn’t have the power to stop him back then.”

“Even so, isn’t that a bit too much? A life is at stake.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Divine Beggar trailed off.

“It was a matter of life and death for everyone. If we couldn’t resolve that situation, the entire martial world would have been swept away.”

“I understand. However…”

The Historian sighed.

When studying history, you see countless cases where the few sacrifice themselves for the many. If the sacrifice of the few is voluntary, heroes are born, but if the sacrifice of the few is done through coercion, then it’s wrong.

Anyone would feel the same.

Who could easily agree to being told they must die now to save the many? Those who can do it are remarkable. Just because someone can’t doesn’t mean they should be criticized.

“So did the Heavenly Alliance Leader accept that proposal?”

“He ran away.”

“…”

“That man has somewhat honest and fiery aspects. Plus, his attachment to life is tremendous. He had his dignity, so he couldn’t openly leave the Tang  Family, but he struggled desperately to avoid taking it.”

“If a person refuses that much, you should let them go.”

“Right. Yes, that’s correct. That’s what should have been done, but…”

Divine Beggar smiled awkwardly.

“Everyone tried to do that. But there was someone who wouldn’t give up.”

“…Wei Yan-ho.”

“There couldn’t be two people in the world with such thick skin. That bastard stuck to him like a leech and persuaded him.”

“Was it really persuasion?”

“…Let’s say it was.”

The Historian closed his eyes.

Even without seeing it, it was obvious.

To put it nicely, it would be persuasion, but in the end, it would have been no different from threats. Given Radiant Martial Sovereign’s personality that he’d heard about so far, he would have mixed subtle threats with cajolery to toy with people.

He was more than capable of that.

“Anyway, it seems like it was resolved in the end.”

“Hm? What do you mean by that?”

“It was such a big matter. If that incident had properly exploded, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation now. In the end, it was handled well, wasn’t it?”

Divine Beggar wore a bitter smile.

“If you look at the results, I suppose you’d have to say that. But if you look at the process, you can’t necessarily say that.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Bitterness appeared on Divine Beggar’s face.

“Everyone was being too complacent.”

“…Pardon?”

“Aren’t you a historian too? Then you should know what my words mean.”

At Divine Beggar’s words, the Historian’s face hardened.

“It’s the beginning.”

“That’s right.”

Divine Beggar quietly turned his head. Through the window in one side of the hut, the red sunset was visible.

A sunset as red as blood.

“We thought we were preparing. We thought we were taking precautions. But we weren’t. We only realized that after we were hit.”

***

No one knows about things they haven’t experienced.

You study history too, so you’ll know—when you look back at history, there are things that are simply incomprehensible.

There are people who can clearly see what’s going to happen but don’t prepare and suffer disaster. They too must have known in advance that such things would happen, but strangely, they act leisurely and then suffer great calamity.

Then they get pointed at by later generations. Called stupid.

But isn’t that a bit strange?

They are people whose names remain in history.

Considering that history records the center of the world, they couldn’t possibly be stupid people. Rather, they would be incomparably intelligent.

The very fact that they could make decisions that determine a nation’s fate is something ordinary people cannot do. It’s something only those who have gone through verification after verification and risen to high positions can do. It’s a position that only the geniuses who represent their era can reach.

But it’s strange.

When you look back at history, you see those smart people making stupid decisions countless times. It’s not just because we know the results in advance that it looks that way. They too would have known what the results would be if things continued as they were.

Why do you think that is?

You don’t know?

I didn’t know either.

Not until I experienced it myself.

When people feel they’re in crisis, a strange kind of expectation arises.

The expectation that trouble will surely come, but not yet. I don’t know if it should be called expectation. Should it just be called hope?

Anyway, that’s how it was.

That’s how I was at the time.

Even though I was clearly aware that something big would happen, I thought not yet. I believed there would be a little more time to prepare.

Foolishly.

***

“Please think about it once more.”

“Mmmph.”

“This is quite an important matter.”

“Mmmph.”

“If you do well, you could become a hero whose name goes down in history.”

Your name would go down in history.

But what’s the point of having your name in history after you’re dead?

Moreover, this guy doesn’t seem to understand at all, but even if he left his name in history, it would only end up embellishing this guy’s achievements.

‘Have some awareness of your own position!’

History tends to revolve around the victors. And the future victor was likely to be this guy.

The moment they lost to the Demonic Cult, there would be no victors, and if they didn’t lose to the Demonic Cult, the next generation would obviously be dominated by the three characters “Wei Yan-ho.”

But what?

Leave your name in history?

‘It won’t glorify my name, it’ll glorify yours.’

And even if this matter became entirely Radiant Martial Sovereign’s achievement, he’d still decline. There’s no honor worth risking your life for.

Therefore, Radiant Martial Sovereign kept his mouth firmly shut.

‘I want to run away.’

If he could follow his thoughts, he wanted to immediately escape this place and run to somewhere that damned young bastard couldn’t see him, but if he did that, Radiant Martial Sovereign’s reputation built up until now would surely be shattered.

Therefore, Radiant Martial Sovereign chose silence.

But that cunning bastard didn’t easily let go of someone he’d bitten into. He was just like a leech.

“Please reconsider.”

“…I’ve already made my decision.”

“Hey, you can’t do that.”

When Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue, Wei Jeong-han cleared his throat.

“Ahem, Yan-ho.”

“Yes?”

“It’s not right to force someone when they don’t want to do it. Now let’s stop this and look for another method…”

“Why isn’t it right? This is the right thing to do.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho frowned as he spoke.

“It’s for the martial world.”

“…The martial world is important, but the individual is important too.”

“That’s something only wild people would say. Those who hold positions or eat from the martial world’s rice bowl are different. To put it bluntly, haven’t they been living well off money contributed by others all this time?”

“…”

“People who don’t have the ability to produce even a single grain of rice live grandly just because they can swing a sword well, but whose money is that? Why do they give that money? They give money asking to be protected in times like this, but if you enjoy the benefits when times are good and only think of yourself when crisis strikes, how shameless is that?”

Radiant Martial Sovereign’s body gradually shrank.

It wasn’t exactly wrong.

The Heavenly Alliance collected tribute from the vast population of Sichuan. They also received support from businesses and sects, but the main source of income was tribute called “seat money.”

That tribute was collected under the pretext of protecting them during crises.

It wasn’t a situation where foreign enemies had invaded, but this was also a crisis. But to ignore that crisis?

It was definitely problematic.

“It’s not that I won’t solve the problem. I’m saying let’s find another method.”

“Another method?”

Wei Yan-ho snorted.

“Two of the smartest people from the Zhuge Family are here, but they’ve just been catching flies since earlier, and you want another method?”

The blade that had been stabbing at Radiant Martial Sovereign stabbed at Zhuge Moon-in and Zhuge Yeom.

‘Why are the arrows suddenly coming this way!’

‘That damn bastard!’

When everyone’s attention focused on them, Zhuge Yeom and Zhuge Moon-in pretended not to notice.

It was hard to deal with the suddenly flying arrows. Why suddenly hit them when they were doing well criticizing Radiant Martial Sovereign? Moreover, they had been subtly expressing their intention to join with the Guangdong Wei Family from before.

“Even if Gong Ming returned, no solution would come out, so with what nerve are you looking for other solutions?”

“…There might not necessarily be such a method. For example, the Tang  Family could find an antidote.”

“Antidooooooote?”

Wei Yan-ho’s gaze turned to Tang  Cheon-gun.

‘Wei Jeong-han, that bastard!’

Tang  Cheon-gun hid his boiling insides and turned his gaze away.

Why mention them when they were just staying quiet?

“Antidote? Antidotes are great. If that damn antidote was going to come out, it would have come out twenty years ago! Could an antidote that hasn’t come out despite twenty years of research suddenly pop up? Isn’t that right?”

“Ahem, the Medical Hall is researching hard.”

“If working hard could solve it, it would have been solved long ago. What good does working hard do when you don’t have the ability!”

“Ahem!”

Tang  Cheon-gun covered his mouth and coughed.

‘But why do we have to take the blame?’

Actually, if you thought about it, it wasn’t really blame. Wei Yan-ho had only been stating facts since earlier. The problem was that those facts were quite painful.

“The entire martial world has stepped up but no solution has come out. Even combining the Tang  Family’s medical arts with the heads of the Zhuge Family and Divine Calculator, there’s no solution, so where are you going to find another solution? And do we have time to look for other solutions now?”

“…No.”

“Exactly!”

Wei Yan-ho’s burning eyes fixed on Radiant Martial Sovereign.

“If you’ve been eating well all this time, now it’s time to make a decision for the martial world at least once.”

Cold sweat began to flow down Radiant Martial Sovereign’s forehead.

He was worried that crazy bastard might forcibly open his mouth and shove the Explosive Blood Pill in.

“That… Alliance Leader.”

At that moment, Zhuge Yeom quietly spoke up.

Radiant Martial Sovereign glared with sharp eyes, but Zhuge Yeom avoided his gaze and continued speaking.

“If we think about it rationally, Young Hero Wei’s words aren’t wrong either.”

“…”

“So why don’t you just try taking it once…”

“…Anyone watching would think you’re offering candy.”

“It probably tastes worse than candy. But… there’s no other way.”

Damn prestigious family bastards.

Radiant Martial Sovereign squeezed his eyes shut.

Gradually, he couldn’t see any way to escape. He was cornered as much as he could be.

“If that’s really the case, then there’s no choice.”

When Radiant Martial Sovereign seemed to have raised both hands and both feet in surrender, joy appeared on everyone’s faces.

“However!”

But Radiant Martial Sovereign wasn’t someone who would just die alone. Raising the flag of counterattack, Radiant Martial Sovereign looked at Wei Yan-ho and grinned wickedly.

At that moment, everyone except Wei Yan-ho fell into anxiety.