435: To Changbai Mountains (1)

It took a long time for former Lord Chun Inji to calm down.

The news filled with surprises about the Sky Demon Sword and the cores made his heart tremble.

‘How could all of this be?’

It was considered that the legitimacy of the Demonic Cult was cut off after the seventh generation Lord, Chun Muhui.

A false sword was replaced by the actual Sky Demon Sword.

The blood of the heavenly family.

But despite the huge gap in time, a new Chun Ma was born in the Demonic Cult.

“This old man forgot to formally greet you.”

‘!?’

Chun Inji staggered as he stood up, straightening his back, he slowly began to kneel on one knee and clasped his hands.

“Grandfather!”

Chun Yeowun tried to dissuade him but to no avail.

“Chun Inji, the 22nd Lord of the Great Sky Demon Order, greets the current Chun Ma!”

Tears were falling from the corners of his wrinkled eyes.

It was a joy that the Sky Demon Sword was once again brought into their lives.

And it wasn’t some other person from the clan but his very own grandson. Chun Yeowun, who looked at that, spoke.

“Grandfather, this is troublesome.”

“What is troublesome? This is the happiest day of this old man’s life.”

‘… he’s serious.’

Chun Inji loved the Demonic Cult.

Not just as the Lord, but he cherished just being a member of the cult.

Therefore, he disappeared, intending to carry all the burdens and sacrifice himself.

‘He is a true Cultist.’

He felt the same respect after meeting Ran-yeong, the great woman who sacrificed herself in the Royal Shrine for many years.

If only the heads of the six clans within the cult had acted like them, the Demonic Cult wouldn’t have suffered.

As the emotions subsided, the trembling of his heart stopped as well.

Chun Yeowun asked with worry.

“Grandfather. You said your memory isn’t perfect. Would you like to talk after you rest a little more?”

To that, Chun Inji shook his head and answered.

“… No. I have had enough sleep.”

He smiled widely and looked at the sword, which had transformed back into a wrist guard, and his expression changed into a serious one.

“Yeowun-ah, the fact that you obtained the Sky Demon Sword… and that you obtained the cores before they fell into the hands of the Blade God Six Martial clan might be the guidance of Chun Ma.”

“Guidance…”

Suddenly, Chun Yeowun remembered the illusion he saw when he held the Sky Demon Sword for the first time.

At that time, a man who was supposed to be Chun Ma had spoken.

[It will take a long time. I don’t think it will happen in my lifetime.]

Why did those words come to his mind?

“Maybe it’s just the thought of the people who stay in the Cult. Heheh, but one thing is for sure, it seems like something bad is going to come. This could be fate. Now is the time for everything to be revealed. Ahm.”

Chun Inji, who nodded at his words, started recalling stuff.

“According to what you said, as time passed, it must have been around 25 years ago.”

Chun Inji, who was the Lord of that time, had a great reputation.

During the reign of Chun Inji, the Demonic Cult was expanding its territory to the west, the domain of the Forces of Evil.

And the Forces of Evil was led by one of the five strongest warriors, King Hang Yen, who had defeated the former head Ok-hyun.

Even though he was called a ferocious monarch, he was unable to defeat the army of the Demonic Cult, which was led by Chun Inji, and he ended up getting pushed back.

“It was a time when we continued into the west. Even after having a few victories, there seemed to be a lot of dissatisfaction among the six clans.”

“… I remember. At that time, everyone seemed puzzled at the order to subjugate the west, despite us having the power and number to take over the Yulin faction which was in the north.”

Marakim also added to Chun Inji’s words, as he remembered those days.

At that, Chun Inji seemed upset.

“I can say it out loud now, but at that time, I didn’t see another choice. This old man had made an oath to him.”

“Oath?”

“… with Saint Gu-jung, the former leader of the Shaolin Temple.”

Seventy years ago, Chun Inji had passed the six tests of the Academy.

Chun Inji was so talented that he managed to pass the six tests, which no one had passed for a long time, and not long after that, he took over the title of Lord.

“It had been fifty years or so since I first saw Gu-jung.”

Chun Inji, who was full of spirit and energy, tried to move to the north, the place of the Yulin, just as the previous Lords of the Demonic Cult had done.

In fact, there was a time when he was trying to go north until the Henan province.

“At that time, Saint Gu-jung was the one who stopped me.”

Saint Gu-jung, the then leader of the Shaolin Temple, was called the ‘enlightened one’ and was respected in the Yulin. However, he wasn’t famous for anything other than that.

However, Saint Gu-jung, who brought ten disciples and one hundred and eight Hanjin, was different from the rumors.

“I found out for the first time. The fact that many hidden geniuses were in Wulin.”

Surprisingly, Chun Inji, who was called one of the five strongest warriors, experienced defeat for the first time.

As a result of the battle, which lasted for half a day, he suffered severe internal injuries and was defeated.

“Grandfather lost?”

Even Marakim was shocked. It was his first time hearing about it.

“Huhu, for the first time, I managed to learn the true power of the Shaolin Temple.”

They seldom participated in any events, but once they moved, they weren’t a force that could be tackled.

“… that was why you didn’t take over the north?”

“Well, you can think of it that way. One thing… in the beginning, it was because of my pride.”

“Pride?”

“At that time, I lost to Saint Gu-jung, I made an oath with him.”

The oath was to meet once every five years at a fixed place and compete in martial arts.

Chun Inji, who had suffered his first defeat ever, wanted to fight him again.

At that time, Saint Gu-jung suggested.

[Amitabha! Lord Chun. Let us meet again and compete, but if you keep bringing your army every time, there will only be more casualties. Wouldn’t it be better if only you and I fight each other?]

At first, Saint Gu-jung suggested meeting once every ten years.

However, ten years was too long for the Lord of the Demonic Cult.

As Chun Inji asked it to be every five years, Saint Gu-jung accepted, and their relationship started to bloom.

“It’s embarrassing, but for the first twenty years that I met him, not once did I ever win.”

Chun Inji constantly honed himself to win.

However, Saint Gu-jung, who had the will to prevent the Demonic Cult from moving North, also didn’t neglect his training, every time, the result was the same.

During the four meetings, the two of them had a strange affinity as rivals.

“The fact that we did not go to the north in the end for the past years…”

Chun Yeowun decided to cut his words, not wanting to hurt his grandfather’s pride. Not caring, Chun Inji smiled.

“Hehehe, you take this old man too lightly. The fifth time I competed with him, I defeated him for the first time.”

The fifth battle ended in victory.

A long-awaited victory, and despite defeating Saint Gu-jung, Chun Inji was unable to move north.

The twenty-five-year relationship was enough time for them to understand and respect each other.

“Since I beat him for the first time, we turned into healthy rivals.

The relationship between the two of them was strange.

Starting out as enemies, they turned into friends.

After that, Chun Inji, considering his friendship with Gu-jung, decided to give up on the North and turned his attention to the west, the Forces of Evil.

From a political standpoint, Saint Gu-jung was nothing less than a hero.

However, only the two people who battled knew that fact.

“Whenever I suffered from political affairs or had concerns, I would meet up with him and talk about the deep dissatisfactions I had. He was a true Buddhist.”

It seemed like he missed those past days.

Chun Inji’s expression turned dark.

“And then one day, it happened.”

As usual, Chun Inji headed to the promised place to meet with Saint Gu-jung, he waited for a fortnight but was unable to meet him.

He was wondering if he should wait any longer, but then he found information.

“Someone from the Shaolin Temple said that some leader went missing from the mountain southeast of the Anhui fortress, and Saint Gu-jung went there directly.”

Thinking that it was inappropriate to be involved in the affairs of Yulin factions, he wondered if he should wait a little more or return.

However, Chun Inji, who was conflicted, knew that he wouldn’t get too many chances to meet Gu-jung, not being able to overcome his curiosity, he headed to Mt. Biam.

The southeast of Anhui fortress wasn’t far from the Demonic Cult, so he thought of heading there alone.

“After five days, I arrived at Mt. Biam and tried to find out the whereabouts of Saint Gu-jung.”

Naturally, Saint Gu-jung and the other monks of the temple would be trying to find the missing person.

However, Chun Inji, who was on Mt. Biam, found something deep in the forest.

“It was a coincidence, but there were traces of a fight.”

Several traces.

He found traces of a technique that belonged to the Shaolin Temple and traces of a technique that he had only seen once before.

“Extreme Art of the Blade God!”

Chun Yeowun, who guessed it, opened his mouth.

“Extreme Art of the Blade God?”

“It’s a technique of the Blade God Six Martial Clan.”

“Oh, how did you find out the name?”

“I heard it from one of their members.”

Chun Inji couldn’t hide his surprise.

Either way, it was the right answer, and Chun Inji nodded.

“… right. It’s the Extreme Art of the Blade God. This old man who passed the sixth test in the academy saw their ultimate technique, which seemed like the greatest one in the world, and it seemed like Gu-jung had fought with one of them.”

Since it was the first time he ever came across such a shocking technique, Chun Inji clearly remembered the slashes.

However, his techniques were inherited from the cult’s hundreds of years of legacy, so he didn’t think deeply about the new slashes.

It was because he thought that he would never cross paths with a master of the sword technique.

However, upon discovering the slashes, Chun Inji decided that something felt unusual and tried to find Saint Gu-jung right away.

“In the traces I found, the Shaolin Temple technique used was a lot lower than Gu-jung’s level, so I guessed it was the traces from the missing leader.”

Saint Gu-jung had reached Mt.Biam before Chun Inji.

Realizing that, Chun Inji tried to find him in a hurry, he searched for two days and finally found traces of martial artists.

And footprints heading to the east.

“I hurriedly followed and reached a gorge which was in the west of Zhejiang province. There, I was lucky enough to find Saint Gu-jung.”

It was literal luck.

It was because there were sounds of battle from the side of the gorge.

So he hurried there.

“Saint Gu-jung was competing with an unknown master.”

The monks of Shaolin Temple, who were his company, all turned into defiled corpses at the bottom of the valley, and Saint Gu-jung seemed to be struggling.

Chun Inji joined in and helped Gu-jung.

“Starting with the basics, we used every technique we could think of, but their martial arts, it definitely depended on the blade technique and the Blade God.”

No matter how excellent the martial arts were of the unknown man when Chun Inji joined, the situation reversed.

Although it took a while, they were able to defeat the enemy.

“Saint Gu-jung said something while we were subduing them.”

[Lord Chun! You can’t kill them!]

The reason was unknown, but it was a request, so a few people were captured without being killed.

Saint Gu-jung was tired from the long battle.

When he recovered the next day, Chun Inji heard about what had happened.

[Lord Chun. They are the descendants of the Blade God.]

He expected that to some extent, but it was still shocking.

The descendants of that person had disappeared a long time ago, but they surfaced again?

“This old man thought that this only started when Saint Gu-jung was looking for that missing man. But I was wrong.”

“It wasn’t?”

Chun Inji, the former Lord, answered Chun Yeowun’s question.

“… Saint Gu-jung knew about them.”

“Knew about them? Like their existence?”

“Yes.”

Saint Gu-jung revealed the truth, pointing to the descendants.

[I didn’t want to tell you, strongest one, but since Lord Chun seems to know a little about them, I’ll tell you. Amitabha.]

Five hundred years ago, the Blade God first appeared in Wulin.

The first victim was Chun Muhui, the seventh Lord of the Demonic Cult.

The Blade God, who killed one of the five strongest warriors, disappeared and reappeared exactly two years later.

That was,

“Mt. Song!”

“Huh? How do you know that?”

When Chun Yeowun knew about it, Chun Inji couldn’t help but be puzzled.

Marakim answered it.

“After you disappeared, the Lord passed the sixth test in the academy, and when he entered the cave, he learned about the legacy of the Sword Demon.”

“What? You passed the sixth test?”

Chun Inji couldn’t hide his surprise.

Thinking about it, it would be strange if Chun Yeowun, who had such outstanding skills, was unable to pass the sixth test.

“… you keep surprising this old man. Huhu.”

After he calmed down from the surprise, Chun Inji spoke again.

“The place he appeared again, two years later, was Mt. Song. At that time, Gong Yun, a master in the Shaolin Temple, was assassinated despite being one of the five strongest.”

It was even shocking that Chun Muhui, the Lord of the Demonic Cult, had been murdered.

Gung Yun was a monk who had been respected by many in Yulin. This was why Yulin was dead set on catching the mysterious person who suddenly appeared and killed people. The 9 great clans and the smaller clans had the same wish too.

“The result, you might know, was a failure.”

After that, two years later, Yuk Jingkem of the Forces of Evil was killed by the Blade God.

“At that time, the only person who stopped him was the Sword Demon. Having passed the sixth test, you know why the academy was built?”

“… to prepare for the Blade God and his descendants who will appear in the future.”

“Right. However, that isn’t the only reason.”

“Then?”

“As two strong people of the Yulin were murdered, a secret group was formed within the faction to track him down.”

Chun Inji took a deep breath once and said,

“The name of the secret group which Saint Gu-jung belonged to was Eun Jarim.”