CLS-Chapter 657

Chapter 657:

Wei Yan-ho was feeling dejected.

‘I couldn’t even rest properly.’

What a pity.

Generally speaking, humans need proper rest. If you can’t rest as earnestly as you work hard, you won’t be able to recharge. A body that can’t recharge and is overworked cannot do proper work.

It’s true for everything.

Rest is important when studying, and rest is important when training. Even when working, rest is more important than anything else.

However.

Unfortunately, people don’t even know such obvious things. No, rather than not knowing, they know but choose to ignore it.

‘That’s why their skills don’t improve.’

Oh my, what a lament.

Looking at people who shout that effort is everything no matter what you do, that you should sleep only two hours a day and devote yourself to effort to succeed—I can’t help but feel dismayed.

What I’d like to say is ‘Then why didn’t you do that yourself? You would have succeeded if you had,’ but the moment those words leave my mouth, they take it as a challenge to fight to the death, so I can’t say anything.

What a sorrowful situation this is.

This world is overflowing with people who don’t make efforts themselves yet force effort upon their children and others as if it’s natural. For such a world to develop would be harder than an earthworm becoming a dragon.

What am I talking about?

“I want to rest.”

The moment I spoke, criticism flew at me.

“What kind of talk is that from someone riding in a carriage, you bastard!”

“Can’t I even speak? I have a mouth, so why can’t I speak!”

“Your mouth sure is alive!”

Jang-il pointed accusingly at the top of the carriage.

“If not for you, we would have already arrived in Shaanxi.”

“Then leave me behind.”

“Grrrr!”

Jang-il trembled with rage.

There were so many things he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. And to tell it as it is, what Jang-il said about Wei Yan-ho causing delays on the journey wasn’t true.

The carriage Wei Yan-ho was riding in now was specially made by the Righteous Martial Alliance. Since it was being pulled by carefully selected divine horses, its speed was no less than that of ordinary martial artists.

He just didn’t like the sight of it.

“Having such earth-shaking abilities, yet lying sprawled on the carriage roof just because you don’t want to walk that little bit—does that even make sense? You bastard! Aren’t you even embarrassed in front of others?”

“You’re a beggar.”

“What!”

“You’re a beggar, so why do you care so much about what others think? Then just don’t be a beggar. That’s embarrassing, but being a beggar isn’t? Isn’t that backwards?”

“……”

Sometimes Wei Yan-ho blocks people’s words.

Since there was nothing wrong with what he said, Jang-il could only quietly turn his head away.

“Anyway, such a busybody.”

Wei Yan-ho turned his body around and lay down looking at the sky.

‘It would be nice if sleep would come.’

Unfortunately, sleep wouldn’t come.

For Wei Yan-ho, who could fall asleep with his eyes closed whether in a swaying carriage or under eaves with morning dew falling, not being able to sleep was no different from a major incident.

It wasn’t that there was any particular problem.

Of course, if he could sleep well while traveling to Shaanxi to face the Demonic Cult, that would be stranger, but at least for Wei Yan-ho, this situation wasn’t serious enough to cause insomnia.

Rather, wasn’t Wei Yan-ho’s theory that the more work he had to do in the future, the better he should rest beforehand?

But strangely, sleep wouldn’t come.

‘What is this?’

A strange anxiety was tormenting Wei Yan-ho.

A tickling sensation at his fingertips.

The more he tried not to pay attention to it, the more vivid that small sensation became, tormenting him.

‘What am I so anxious about?’

Wei Yan-ho furrowed his brow as he looked at the sky.

‘Am I scared of dying?’

Of course I am.

Often, middle-aged men with fierce eyes go around saying ‘I’m not afraid of death!’ but Wei Yan-ho wasn’t like that. Death is always frightening.

Who would like to die?

Honor and such things are nothing before life. You have to live first to have a next, after all.

So of course it’s scary.

However, the current anxiety wasn’t anxiety coming from fear of death. If it were such tangible anxiety, it would be better—this vague uneasiness that he couldn’t identify was tormenting Wei Yan-ho.

Wei Yan-ho slightly lifted his head. The direction the carriage was heading.

That is, toward Shaanxi.

‘Strange.’

It felt like his body kept trying to get away from the front. As if his body knew something first and was trying not to go to Shaanxi?

“Tsk.”

Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.

It was a reaction he had never experienced even once. He usually wanted to be honest with his body’s reactions, but this was already a path of no return. There was no retreat.

But then…

“Hey, beggar.”

“What?”

“Why are those gentlemen up ahead acting like that?”

Wei Yan-ho’s gaze turned to one place. There was a small commotion at the front formation.

“Those Demonic Cult bastards who came into the Central Plains back then.”

“Huh? They did?”

“…Those Demonic Cult bishops escaped and went to the Central Plains first.”

“Ah. That happened… right? Huh?”

“…It did.”

“Yeah. Well, anyway. So?”

Jang-il sighed and opened his mouth.

“We naturally thought those bastards would strike from behind when we clashed with Hundred Sword Castle, but it seems they were doing other things and wandering around. It’s chaos right now.”

“Why?”

“Shaolin Temple, Mount Hua Sect—they swept them all clean. It seems these bastards were robbing empty houses while we were at war.”

“What? Then the people who were there?”

“What’s there to say?”

Jang-il’s face became gloomy.

Even the great Wei Yan-ho couldn’t speak carelessly in this situation. Although most of the fighting power had come here, those who remained at the sects couldn’t be ignored either.

But if all such people were defeated, it had to be called a terrible disaster.

“Were they all defeated?”

“They say those who hadn’t learned martial arts survived.”

“The Demonic Cult?”

“So it’s an absurd situation.”

Wei Yan-ho furrowed his brow.

The Demonic Cult he knew wasn’t some reasonable place that would spare those who hadn’t learned martial arts. Even if they hadn’t learned martial arts, if they belonged to orthodox sects, the Demonic Cult would massacre them all without leaving a single one.

Even common people couldn’t escape their demonic hands.

Weren’t these the people who would kill common people just for having different doctrines?

That’s why even the Imperial Palace couldn’t stand by and sent Imperial troops.

“But what meaning does that have? There shouldn’t be any particular problem with our fighting power, right?”

“They say they took something.”

“Took?”

“Mm, I don’t know what it is, but… among the places that were robbed, there were apparently places completely unrelated to the martial world. It seems like they’re collecting something, but we don’t know what it is.”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

‘Collecting?’

It was incomprehensible.

Of course, they too had things they wanted, so collecting something wasn’t strange. But wasn’t the timing strange? Whatever they collected, it would be meaningless if they couldn’t win the war with the Central Plains. And if they won the war with the Central Plains, there would be no need to collect at this point things they could naturally obtain.

With the bishops personally taking action, no less.

“What are they scheming?”

“Even the higher-ups can’t figure it out. It’s certain they’re scheming something though.”

“Hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his cheek.

It was a tragic matter, but the important thing wasn’t mourning. They needed to know what those people were scheming to be able to respond.

And then, a familiar face approached Wei Yan-ho.

“Hm?”

“Yan-ho.”

Master Shin Gi-sua leaped onto the carriage.

“…What’s the matter?”

“It seems the situation in Shaanxi is not ordinary. We need a small force to go ahead first.”

“Mm.”

Normally, Wei Yan-ho would have protested about why he had to be included in that small force, but this time even the great Wei Yan-ho couldn’t throw a tantrum.

Now the fate of the martial world and the realm truly hung in the balance.

“Should I go right now?”

“I’m going too.”

“Shouldn’t you stay here to guard? Without you, General, the command won’t work well, will it?”

“Sect Leader Song Hyeon has agreed to take over. He’s someone we can trust.”

“Mm, if General Grandfather says so, then it must be so.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“But what’s the situation up ahead like?”

“It seems difficult to handle.”

“Then we should go quickly.”

Wei Yan-ho sprang up from his seat.

“Let’s depart.”

Wei Yan-ho’s gaze turned toward Shaanxi. If he used lightness technique to run, it wouldn’t take long to get there.

However…

‘I really don’t feel like it.’

He still couldn’t identify the true nature of this anxiety filling his chest.

Wei Yan-ho pushed down the rising uneasiness and leaped down from the carriage.

***

“Wicked bastards!”

Sect Leader Cheong-yeong ground his teeth as he looked ahead.

The Demonic Cult.

The Demonic Cult was swarming toward Mount Hua.

Mount Hua could be called a natural fortress. With its steep mountain terrain, he had been confident they could block not just a hundred thousand but even a million-strong army.

This wasn’t Cheong-yeong’s subjective judgment.

The other sects of Shaanxi and Sichuan also judged that Mount Hua was indeed a natural fortress that could block the Demonic Cult. That’s why they all abandoned their own sects and rushed here.

Cheong-yeong had confidence.

Not because he was the Mount Hua Sect Leader.

Although the Mount Hua Sect alone couldn’t block those people even with the Mount Hua fortress, with all the sects of Shaanxi and Mount Hua combined, he believed that no matter how powerful the Demonic Cult was, they couldn’t pass this place.

But that was just his wishful thinking.

“The East Gate is breached!”

“Reinforcements!”

“The Abbess is blocking them, but there are limits! It will collapse soon!”

“Damn it!”

Profanity that shouldn’t come from a Taoist’s mouth spilled out.

‘We can’t block them?’

The Demonic Cult’s attack was like splitting bamboo.

Even Mount Hua’s treacherous terrain, where one wrong step would send you plummeting down a thousand-fathom cliff, couldn’t stop them.

Where humans should have hesitated, they climbed up as if it were flat ground. As if fear didn’t exist for them.

Mount Hua had already experienced the Demonic Cult when Gwak Mu-ryang had attacked. That’s why they thought they could handle it. But at this moment, Cheong-yeong had to feel it. What the true power of the Demonic Cult was like!

“The West Gate is also falling! The Dark King is blocking them, but he won’t last long!”

Cheong-yeong’s eyes shook.

‘How can such a thing happen?’

All the fighting power of Shaanxi and Sichuan was gathered here.

Qingcheng and Emei, Sichuan Tang Family and Zhongnan.

Even considering the other smaller sects, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that thirty percent of the martial world’s fighting power was gathered here. Yet with such fighting power, they couldn’t even defend?

‘Damn Demonic Cult bastards!’

Initially, the defense line wasn’t inside Mount Hua. They had been blocking the paths up Mount Hua one by one, but failing in defense and being pushed back again and again, they had come this far.

And now all they had to rely on was a fragile wall that seemed like it would burst with a touch.

And even that had reached its limit.

“We’re, we’re being pushed back!”

“Retreat!”

The main gate burst open helplessly.

‘It’s all over.’

It was at that moment.

A white flash of light streaking toward them entered Cheong-yeong’s vision.