CLS-Chapter 514

Chapter 514:

“Wouldn’t it be better to just bite my tongue and die?”

“Stop your whining already. I’m sick to death of it.”

At Jang-il’s lament, Peng Dao-ji began showing irritation. You can put up with some level of whining to match the mood, but when whining crosses the line, it invites trouble.

“How can I not whine in this situation?”

“Then get lost!”

Jang-il made a hurt expression at Peng Dao-ji’s harsh words.

“When we first met, you couldn’t even speak properly and would twist your body around, but I don’t know how you became such a great man spouting curses.”

“Everyone changes. Just like how you, who always had clear answers, became such a whiner.”

“Uuugh.“

Jang-il let out a groaning sound.

Even if not in martial arts, Peng Dao-ji had always been easy to handle with words, but now even Peng Dao-ji was spitting daggers instead of words from his mouth.

‘The kids have all gotten rough.’

Well, considering who they’re dealing with, it’s only natural. Even the most innocent person in the world would start spewing curses that would make Buddha turn away after rolling around in this ridiculous group for just a month.

“Even if I want to stay somewhat calm…”

Jang-il raised his head and looked ahead.

A vast land.

An overwhelmingly wide expanse entered his sight. If it were anywhere else, he would have praised this tremendous natural majesty. But here, he couldn’t do that.

‘They said the Xinjiang region was barren…’

The land was vast, but it was by no means a grassland. It was closer to a desert. No, it would have been better if it were sandy desert land. A barren wasteland of mixed rocks and soil stretched endlessly.

Looking at this barren land, he seemed to understand why the Demonic Cult constantly coveted the Central Plains.

‘Can people really live in a place like this?’

He was a Small Beggar of the Beggar’s Sect.

To lead the Beggar’s Sect, one had to be well-versed in the world’s affairs, and to be well-versed in world affairs, one had to be well-informed about world information.

To gather world information, one had to be able to turn dead information into living information. And what was absolutely necessary in that process was understanding the information.

The sect leader of the Beggar’s Sect believed that understanding information from regions was impossible without understanding those regions themselves, and as soon as Jang-il was chosen as Small Beggar, he dragged him around the world.

Thanks to that, Jang-il had confirmed many places throughout the world with his own eyes, but none of the places he had seen in the world were as barren as this.

He already knew that Xinjiang was barren, but there was a huge difference between knowing it with his head and confirming it directly with his eyes.

“Ugh, seriously.”

Wei Yan-ho kept spitting on the ground.

Rough sand mixed with the wind flew in. Instead of regular wind, sandstorms were always blowing. Even though they wore wind-resistant cloaks and covered their faces with cloth, such preparations couldn’t block all the sandstorms.

“This land is really useless. How do people live here?”

“It means the Central Plains are that much more prosperous.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded his head.

Being here, he could certainly understand how prosperous the Central Plains were. Compared to this barren land, even the cave he shared with his master was somewhat livable… no, that’s not right.

‘What am I thinking right now?’

Wei Yan-ho’s body shuddered.

They say humans are animals of adaptation and memories become beautified, but to think that cave where he spent those terrible days was being beautified as a livable place.

‘I need to snap out of it.’

At that moment, Jang-il spoke with a questioning voice.

“But this isn’t the way to the Demonic Cult, is it?”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened.

“There’s a road here too?”

“There’s a road of sorts. And the direction doesn’t seem right either.”

Wei Jeong-han shrugged his shoulders.

“Of course. We’re not heading to the Demonic Cult right now.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

Everyone looked at Wei Jeong-han with puzzled eyes.

But Wei Jeong-han rather frowned at Wei Yan-ho and the others’ reactions.

“What are you surprised about? Did you really think I would charge into the Demonic Cult without any plan and shout, ‘Hey, you bastards! Hand over my son right now!’ and cause a ruckus?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that it?”

Wei Jeong-han’s face contorted.

“Just what do you think of me?”

“A great hero who loses his plans when his eyes go wild.”

“Father.”

“Wei Yan-ho’s dad.”

Something moist formed around the eyes of Wei Jeong-han as he looked up at the distant sky.

‘To think I have to receive such treatment from these young punks.’

Until recently, they had shown some respect, but now they were treating him purely as Wei Yan-ho’s father.

Of course, those words weren’t wrong, but in the past, if he was treated as a father suffering because he happened to give birth to Wei Yan-ho, now he was being treated as the source who pushed them into suffering by giving birth to someone exactly like that.

Just as the words ‘ah’ and ‘uh’ carry different meanings, that subtle difference in treatment was making Wei Jeong-han suffer.

“Do you think I’d just charge into the Demonic Cult without knowing what kind of place it is?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“I was actually wondering if I should stop you.”

“I was afraid I’d be asked why I followed if I opposed it.”

“…”

Wei Jeong-han shook his head.

These guys had no plan either.

“Information is essential to face an enemy. Right now, we’re going to get that information.”

“Information?”

Peng Dao-ji tilted his head.

Wu San’s reaction wasn’t much different either.

“But Great Hero Wei, information about the Demonic Cult is one of the hardest things to obtain in the world. Moreover, Xinjiang can be called the Demonic Cult’s land. Do you mean we can obtain information about the Demonic Cult in such a place?”

One might think it would be easier to obtain information about the Demonic Cult because it’s Xinjiang. But just as it would be impossible for outsiders to obtain information about the Tang Family while in Sichuan, obtaining information about the Demonic Cult in Xinjiang land under their control was nearly impossible.

“Of course it’s possible. There are people prepared for that purpose.”

“Ah!”

Jang-il was startled as if he realized something.

“Are you planning to go there?”

“It seems you know about it too.”

“Yes. Those who deal with information couldn’t not know. There are scouts of the Righteous Martial Alliance here.”

“Scouts?”

Peng Dao-ji urged Jang-il as if hearing this for the first time.

“What do you mean? Scouts?”

“Aren’t the Righteous Martial Alliance and the Demonic Cult at war? Even if they’re not fighting a war right now, we should consider it a ceasefire.”

“That’s true.”

“But they can’t just sit back and watch. To prepare for the possibility of them suddenly raising troops, scouts are being deployed.”

“…Scouts.”

Peng Dao-ji asked back as if incredulous.

“Isn’t Xinjiang the Demonic Cult’s land? Scouts in such a place? Ten lives wouldn’t be enough.”

The answer came from Wei Jeong-han.

“Hard to believe, but it’s definitely true.”

Peng Dao-ji absolutely couldn’t believe Wei Jeong-han’s words. No, to be precise, it wasn’t that he couldn’t believe it, but rather that he couldn’t understand it.

Since Wei Jeong-han wasn’t someone who would spout nonsense, such things were definitely happening. But…

‘Monitoring them in the Demonic Cult’s land?’

The Demonic Cult wouldn’t just sit by and watch. Given any opportunity, they would try to cut their throats. It wasn’t that the Central Plains was suppressing the Demonic Cult to prevent them from leaving Xinjiang land. They had simply returned to their positions after being exhausted with each other.

Yet monitoring them in their land?

“How could such an idea…”

“It can’t be helped. Though Xinjiang and Qinghai are incredibly vast, if they set their minds to it, they’re just distances that can be crossed in an instant. If we discover them after they’ve passed Qinghai, that’s the end. The western part of the Central Plains would be devastated in an instant.”

“Hmm.“

He had to agree with those words.

This was exactly why Sichuan was always devastated whenever the Demonic Cult pushed into the Central Plains. It wasn’t that Sichuan collapsed because they targeted it, but if they had ignored the forces behind them and rushed into the Central Plains, Gansu would have been smashed first.

‘Certainly, such a threat cannot be ignored. But…’

He understood that scouts needed to be operated from the Righteous Martial Alliance’s perspective. But who would volunteer for such work? No matter how high the Righteous Martial Alliance’s authority, who would obediently follow orders to risk their lives to detect their movements?

“Then the people staying here are?”

Wei Jeong-han answered with a bitter expression.

“They should be called true heroes of righteousness who don’t spare their own lives for the sake of justice.”

Everyone became solemn for a moment at the sorrow contained in his voice.

“Let’s go. Let’s see what they’ve been observing all this time.”

Wei Jeong-han pulled his wind-resistant cloak over himself and quickened his pace. Everyone began following Wei Jeong-han.

“Captain.”

“…”

“Branch Leader!”

“Mmm?”

Yeom Mong, who had been leisurely enjoying an afternoon nap, pulled down the hat covering his face.

“…What?”

“Someone is coming.”

Someone is coming. Yes, someone is coming.

“Bothering people over nothing… what did you say?”

“Someone is coming, I said. What should we do?”

Yeom Mong bolted upright.

Someone is coming?

“Demonic Cult bastards?”

“I’m not sure about that. We can’t identify them at this distance.”

“How many?”

“Looks like about five. Not certain.”

“Get out of the way!”

Yeom Mong hurriedly burst out of the barracks.

‘This is bad…’

As soon as he left the barracks, Yeom Mong climbed the watchtower rising beside the barracks like a monkey. Reaching the topmost observation post, Yeom Mong narrowed his eyes.

‘Damn sandstorm.’

The thickly blowing sandstorm was blocking his view. Even with his trained eyesight, it was impossible to identify the approaching figures through this sandstorm.

“Prepare for battle!”

“Are they Demonic Cult bastards?”

“I don’t know. Can’t identify them. But just in case, wake everyone up!”

“Yes!”

Seriousness appeared on Yeom Mong’s face.

Normally, he wouldn’t have been this urgent. But now it was a situation where he couldn’t help but be tense. The Demonic Cult was already preparing to rise, and tensions with the Righteous Martial Alliance had also reached their peak.

It wouldn’t be strange if the Demonic Cult moved to clean them up first before rising.

“Prepare to send a message.”

“Yes!”

The responding voice also carried determination.

If those people were coming to kill them, they had to send a message to the alliance before dying. Only then would the alliance know of their deaths and prepare.

Perhaps the moment they had thought would come someday, but hoped would never come, was approaching.

‘Small numbers.’

He couldn’t tell if this was a good situation or a bad one.

Small numbers could mean no hostile intent. But if the Demonic Cult had decided to eliminate them for certain, rather than pushing with half-hearted numbers, they would have sent reliable masters.

They were getting closer.

Figures wrapped in black wind-resistant cloaks were gradually approaching them.

“Attach the message to the messenger bird.”

“Should we release it?”

“Not yet, wait just a little more.”

Just when Yeom Mong couldn’t decide how to respond, the figure leading the distant party that looked like dots slowly raised one arm.

‘Attack signal?’

Tension filled Yeom Mong’s entire body.

Then…

The raised hand began waving vigorously left and right.

It was as if he were greeting them happily.

“Huh?”

Everyone fell silent watching the figure enthusiastically showing joy with both arms.

“What’s that?”

“…Doesn’t seem like they came to fight?”

“Why did they come all the way here?”

Yeom Mong looked at the man leading the group with a drained expression and opened his mouth.

“It seems like guests have arrived. Prepare a welcome.”