CLS-Chapter 680

Chapter 680:

Sagan stared at Guwangqushen with a face as if he had seen a ghost.

‘Who did he say?’

He had definitely heard it.

There was no way he could have misheard that name.

But…….

Even though he had clearly heard it with his ears, it felt like those words weren’t entering his head.

He couldn’t think of anything.

It was quite some time later that Sagan realized what he had heard.

“So you’re saying…….”

A dry cough burst out.

His body was rejecting his thoughts. No, more precisely, it was that he didn’t want to accept them.

After his lips had been trembling for a long while, Sagan finally squeezed out his voice.

“The Radiant……Radiant Martial Sovereign Wei Yan-ho is…….”

“…….”

“No, Radiant Martial Sovereign Wei Yan-ho’s lifelong great enemy is known to be the Heavenly Demon. He confronted the Heavenly Demon, and then the Heavenly Demon…… Heavenly Demon. Damn it, I don’t even know what I’m saying right now…….”

His head was in chaos.

There had been a premise to all of this.

Compared to his fame, very little was known about Radiant Martial Sovereign Wei Yan-ho’s actual deeds. Everyone knew that Wei Yan-ho had saved the world from the Heavenly Demon, but how he defeated the Heavenly Demon, in what manner he defeated him, was shrouded in mystery to the point where one could say it was completely unknown.

But…….

If what Guwangqushen said was true, then the very premise was wrong.

How…….

How could such a thing happen?

“I…….”

Sagan shook his head violently.

“I cannot understand what you are saying, Divine Beggar. Didn’t Radiant Martial Sovereign fight against the Heavenly Demon?”

“That’s correct.”

“……Aren’t your words contradictory?”

“Nothing is contradictory.”

“The Heavenly Demon is…….”

“To begin any story, we need to realistically change that term ‘Heavenly Demon’ that you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“What is a Heavenly Demon?”

“……Isn’t it the demon of the Demonic Cult who first created the Demonic Cult a thousand years ago? One who reached the extreme limits of demonic cultivation, a realm that humans cannot attain.”

“That’s not correct.”

Doubt appeared in Sagan’s eyes.

“You don’t need to make that face. It’s not correct because it’s a fact. But it’s not your fault. We also believed that. What we missed was the fact that the Demonic Cult is a religion.”

Religion.

The moment he heard that word, Sagan understood to some degree what he had been misunderstanding.

“‘Heavenly Demon’ is not a term referring to a specific individual. To them, it has the meaning of ‘one who guides.’ Anyone whose demonic cultivation reaches its peak and guides them can become a Heavenly Demon.”

“…….”

“In that sense, the Heavenly Demon of that era truly deserved to be called Heavenly Demon. He took the Demonic Cult, which had been scattered and about to have its lineage severed, and instantly grew it into a force that threatened the entire world. With such respect and fear, they began to call him Heavenly Demon.”

Guwangqushen wore a subtle smile.

“So it’s true that Wei Yan-ho fought against the Heavenly Demon. That story is not wrong in the slightest. But was the Heavenly Demon that Wei Yan-ho fought the same Heavenly Demon who created the Demonic Cult in the past? That’s what’s wrong.”

Sagan’s lips pressed together tightly.

Didn’t he know?

No.

None of the history he knew explained this fact. This wasn’t a situation that arose because his studies were lacking.

Deliberate omission. To desperately hide the fact that the Heavenly Demon’s identity was ‘that person,’ everyone had uniformly turned away from this truth.

But…….

Could anyone blame them?

Who could dare blame the fact that they tried not to pass down this truth to future generations?

To think that the Heavenly Demon was the same person as Sword Emperor Baek Mu-han.

Learning history is not much different from looking into all the ugly aspects of humanity. Humans always discuss righteousness, justice, and the Way, but history shows how easily humans have violated all of that.

Having studied history, Sagan knew well how ugly human evil and hypocrisy could be.

But even he could only understand those who hid this fact.

How on earth could they pass this down?

Even Sagan was so shocked that he couldn’t continue speaking.

“……Is it true?”

With bloodshot eyes, Sagan glared at Guwangqushen. The shock he had received was so great that it seemed as if he was spewing hatred at Guwangqushen.

But Guwangqushen understood Sagan’s attitude.

Who could remain calm?

Who.

Sword Emperor Baek Mu-han was not just a strong person. He was the pride of the martial world, with a status comparable to the Heavenly Demon, or rather, greater than the Heavenly Demon.

Such a person…….

Why would such a person?

“No…….”

His head began to spin.

Once the shock ended, reason caught the loopholes.

“How is such a thing possible? Wasn’t Sword Emperor Baek Mu-han a person from three hundred years ago? But how…….”

“There’s no reason it couldn’t happen. Didn’t Wei Yan-ho already meet Baek Mu-han?”

“But that was…….”

“There’s no reason why something done once can’t be done twice.”

The spirit of Baek Mu-han that Wei Yan-ho met said he was not the complete Baek Mu-han. Simply put, Wei Yan-ho didn’t meet Baek Mu-han, but rather met a copy of Baek Mu-han.

If he could create a copy of himself once, there was no reason he couldn’t do it twice.

He understood that.

“But why?”

“……It’s a long story.”

Guwangqushen opened his mouth with a bitter tone.

“Do you understand the grudge that the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family holds against the martial world?”

“Yes. I know about that.”

It was a natural grudge.

After Baek Mu-han disappeared, the martial world’s elite, including the Nine Sects and One Alliance, attacked the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family and slaughtered them. If they had killed over three thousand people, it wouldn’t be strange at all if they had lived with revenge against the martial world as their supreme command.

Sagan would have become a vengeful ghost too if he had experienced such a thing.

“That was wrong from the beginning.”

“What do you mean?”

“The grudge began before that. We didn’t know then. We couldn’t even think of it. Think about it yourself. If Baek Mu-han had disappeared, would you be able to attack the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family?”

Sagan’s eyes wavered.

It was impossible.

Absolutely impossible.

Because you wouldn’t know where Baek Mu-han was or what he was doing. If you carelessly touched the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family and Baek Mu-han returned, the martial world would experience hell.

The term ‘enraged Baek Mu-han’ was synonymous with destruction.

When he was still maintaining some semblance of dignity, the martial world could barely, if at all, touch Baek Mu-han. If such a Baek Mu-han abandoned everything and gave himself over to rage, not a single blade of grass would remain in the martial world.

Which meant…….

“Don’t tell me?”

“That’s right.”

Guwangqushen said heavily, unable to hide his bitterness.

“They didn’t attack the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family. They had already ambushed Baek Mu-han before that.”

“Is such a thing possible?”

“Sometimes ridiculous things happen in the world. People seem like they would be rational, but in reality, they’re not that rational. If everyone thought rationally and made rational judgments, things like wars wouldn’t happen. You could already know the outcome before even waging war. But humans are beings who cannot abandon their foolish attachments.”

Guwangqushen’s eyes sank endlessly.

“Those who hold power can never let go of their power. During Baek Mu-han’s reign, they were suppressed. But what made them even more terrified than that was the sense of crisis that if time continued like this, they might be forever crushed under the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family.”

As if his throat was parched, Guwangqushen poured liquor into his mouth.

Whether it was because he had spoken too much, or because just thinking about it made his chest feel stuffy, was unknown.

“So they committed an act they should never have done. Those who discovered that Baek Mu-han had left the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family gathered all the power they could muster and pursued Baek Mu-han.”

“But…….”

Sagan shouted firmly.

“They could have made foolish judgments! If everyone didn’t oppose those stronger than themselves, the history of the martial world would have ended long ago. While I can’t speak favorably of it as a challenge to the strong in this situation…… Yes, that could happen! But Baek Mu-han is Baek Mu-han. Even if the Nine Sects and One Alliance gathered all their power, they couldn’t handle him…….”

Sagan, who had been vehemently arguing, closed his mouth.

A hypothesis formed in his mind.

If it were Baek Mu-han with all his power, even if not just the Nine Sects allied, but the entire Nine Sects and One Alliance rushed at him, they couldn’t capture him.

But what if Baek Mu-han’s condition wasn’t at its peak?

“Don’t tell me…….”

“Heaven sometimes plays with humans.”

Guwangqushen lifted the bottle again to wet his lips. As if the liquor wouldn’t go down, Guwangqushen lightly moistened his lips and sighed powerlessly.

“If Baek Mu-han had defeated them then, the tragedy wouldn’t have happened. He would have been angry, but he would have understood. He wouldn’t have raged enough to destroy the martial world. But…….”

Words like a lament.

It was a voice that couldn’t stop its self-mockery.

“Of all times, they discovered Baek Mu-han when he had lost all his power.”

“……The cave.”

“That’s right.”

The mystery was being solved.

What Wei Yan-ho met was a copy of himself contained in Baek Mu-han’s inner core.

Then…….

What happened to Baek Mu-han who left that inner core behind?

Until now, Sagan had thought that Baek Mu-han had died after leaving that inner core.

But what if he hadn’t died?

What if Baek Mu-han, who had gathered all his power to leave behind an inner core to pass on his martial arts, left the cave to find a true place to die?

And what if, at that time, the Nine Sects discovered Baek Mu-han?

“How could such a thing…….”

“Didn’t I tell you.”

Guwangqushen chuckled.

“Heaven sometimes plays with humans. Things that wouldn’t happen once in a thousand, once in ten thousand times, things that should never happen, occur in this world.”

“How…….”

Sagan’s eyes wavered.

It was the worst situation imaginable.

“Baek Mu-han, encountering the elders of the Nine Sects, desperately resisted them.”

“…….”

“If he had possessed his full power, he could have killed or subdued them all without a single wound. But all that remained to Baek Mu-han was an empty shell. Rather, what was amazing was Baek Mu-han’s side. Having lost even his internal energy, he survived against the elite of the Nine Sects.”

Everything began to form in Sagan’s mind.

Baek Mu-han making a desperate escape.

And the elders of the Nine Sects and One Alliance pursuing him.

What should the Nine Sects and One Alliance, who ultimately let him escape, have done?

What should they have done when they learned that Baek Mu-han’s condition was not normal?

“So…….”

“That’s right.”

Guwangqushen nodded powerlessly.

“They didn’t intend to attack the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family from the beginning. They simply wanted to subdue Baek Mu-han. And they inflicted irreversible wounds on him. But ultimately, they let Baek Mu-han escape.”

“How…….”

Sagan’s teeth clenched as if they would break.

“How base can humans become!”

Even to Sagan’s outpouring of anger, Guwangqushen didn’t react. He simply said what needed to be said calmly.

“Those who let Baek Mu-han escape…… tried to eliminate the foundation to which Baek Mu-han could return. That was closer to the desperate struggle of those paralyzed by fear rather than a plan. So they attacked the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family. Yes…….”

Guwangqushen closed both eyes.

“That was the beginning of everything.”