Chapter 41: The Choice You Made
As Yul Han stepped away after making the rounds of the halls where the elders stayed, an incredulous smile settled on his lips.
He had expected resistance, but he had never imagined that every single elder would pull out.
Three elders—including the Chief Elder—had claimed they were down with colds.
Two had excused themselves, citing urgent official duties.
Four were bedridden, claiming internal injuries from reckless energy circulation the night before.
And one—whether he had outright fled or not—no one knew his whereabouts at all.
That said, he couldn’t simply skip the elders and start with the hall leaders. Doing so would only spark complaints that the leadership avoided the heads and punished only the underlings.
So no matter what, the beginning had to be with the elders.
But with that rendered impossible, Yul Han had nothing to do.
In truth, he didn’t even know what a Vice Cult Leader was supposed to do with his life. No one gave him orders, either, so this outcome was only natural.
In the end, after much deliberation, Yul Han headed toward the training grounds. He intended to use this opportunity to fully internalize several martial arts that, though now his, had yet to perfectly harmonize with him.
There were many watching the Vice Cult Leader closely.
The martial artists of the Bright Cult all knew that the elders had slipped away, and they were observing how the Vice Cult Leader would react.
Only then could they find a way to slip away themselves.
Under those watchful gazes, Yul Han arrived at the training grounds and reached for a weapon.
A crescent blade.
A heavy weapon made famous by Guan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The reason Yul Han sought a crescent blade instead of the sword he usually used was simple: among the martial arts that had become his, the most destructive one—Half-Moon Asura Slash—was best tested with it.
That was where the problem began.
On the day Kongtong had been turned into a sea of blood by Yul Han, the weapon he had wielded was this very crescent blade.
What’s more, after casually spinning it once in his hand, the move he unleashed as he leapt into the air in a single bound was—
Urrrrr—BOOM!
Force Energy tore through more than ten jang of the training ground floor paved with bluestone said to be as hard as iron, then crushed a stone wall over two cheok thick.
Satisfied by the immense destructive power displayed even through a light motion, Yul Han lifted his head with a faint smile and looked toward the Heavenly Mountains.
The snow-covered peaks seemed especially pleasing to him today.
However, strange rumors began spreading among the many Bright Cult martial artists who had witnessed the scene.
They said the Vice Cult Leader had crushed the wall of the Discipline Court with Half-Moon Asura Slash, then turned toward the elders’ residences and let out a killing smile.
And what kind of place was the Discipline Court?
It was where the Bright Cult’s laws were upheld and discipline enforced.
To crush its walls with none other than Half-Moon Asura Slash—the very technique that had turned Kongtong into a bloodbath—
And then to smile with killing intent while looking toward the elders’ quarters…
Half a sijin after the rumors began spreading, the Chief Elder came running to the training grounds.
Through the billowing dust scattered by the thunderous explosions, he clearly witnessed the flashing Force Energy.
And the sight of the training grounds being laid waste by it.
“Gulp.”
The dry swallow that escaped him was so loud it startled even himself. Before his eyes, the Force Energy that had filled the training grounds vanished, and the dust slowly settled.
And then—
“You’ve come?”
At Yul Han’s question, Iron Demon’s waist bent nearly in half.
“Y-Yes! Vice Cult Leader. Th-this subordinate has come to be inspected!”
Yul Han smiled calmly at Iron Demon’s words. He had been hearing every single Mental Voice Transmission being exchanged noisily around him.
That was precisely why he had continued practicing Half-Moon Asura Slash despite knowing the surroundings were being destroyed.
Because within those transmissions, he sensed that a path might open from a place he had never expected.
And that feeling was proven correct when the Chief Elder, Iron Demon, came rushing over in such a panic.
“Then shall we begin?”
“Pardon? Ah! Y-Yes.”
Tension filled the Chief Elder’s face as he struggled to regain his composure. He had no idea how the inspection would be carried out.
Then Yul Han posed a question.
“I’ve heard you have subordinates you personally command.”
“Yes. There are about fifty attached to the Chief Elder’s office.”
“Any hall leaders or squad leaders among them?”
“No formal hall leaders, but there are five squad leaders.”
“Then conduct it together with them.”
“W-With them?”
“Why? Do you dislike that?”
As he asked, the Vice Cult Leader casually lowered the crescent blade.
CRACK!
The weapon sank deep into the bluestone floor, burying half of its massive blade.
Iron Demon glanced at the crescent blade embedded in the ground and forced an awkward smile.
“D-Dislike it? N-Not at all. Such words would be utterly, completely unthinkable… If the Vice Cult Leader commands it, then I will do it. Yes. I was just about to summon them.”
With that, the Chief Elder ran off as if his tail were on fire. Yul Han watched him go with a faint smile.
But then—
—Hey, did you see the killing intent dripping from the Vice Cult Leader’s smile? Damn, that gave me chills. I’ll bet ten nyang the Chief Elder ends up half-dead.
—Half-dead? That killing intent won’t stop at half-dead. I’ll bet fifty nyang he loses his position as Chief Elder.
As Yul Han chuckled in disbelief at the Mental Voice Transmissions coming from all around, they suddenly cut off all at once.
The Bright Cult martial artists had been so frightened by the thickening killing intent that they had even shut down their Mental Voice Transmission.
Around then, Iron Demon returned with his subordinates. He had been in such a rush that some of the squad leaders hadn’t even properly dressed.
After glancing over them, Yul Han spoke.
“First, there are two ways for me to determine whether you are truly strong or not. The first is—”
He paused there. At the Vice Cult Leader’s ferocious gaze as he swept over them, the Chief Elder and the five squad leaders failed to hide the tension on their faces.
“—a six-versus-one battle. Use every method you have to bring me down.”
All six of their mouths fell open. The same was true for those nearby who had been straining their ears.
Six versus one? Even six hundred versus one wouldn’t be enough. There was a reason 1,467 Kongtong martial artists had been slaughtered by the Vice Cult Leader alone.
And on top of that, he was holding a crescent blade…
Yul Han glanced at those standing there in shock, mouths agape and unable to make a sound, and continued.
“The second method is—ah! Before that, do you know of Golden Flower Manor?”
At Yul Han’s question, the Chief Elder asked in return,
“Golden Flower Manor… You mean that Golden Flower Manor of the Five Great Tycoons of the martial world?”
“That’s right. You will escort one merchant caravan from there and guide it across the Heavenly Mountains. Which will you choose?”
There was no need to think. The first option had no chance of success to begin with.
“Then of course the second—”
“Ah! I should mention in advance that the second option comes with several additional conditions, including absolutely avoiding any conflict with the Hundred Paths.”
The Chief Elder, whose face now showed he had known it wouldn’t be that easy, asked,
“Avoiding conflict with the Hundred Paths… and what other conditions might there be?”
“No drinking alcohol during the schedule. No going near women. No causing harm to the merchant caravan. No taking goods. No intimidation. And be kind.”
Having swallowed those conditions in an instant, Iron Demon and the squad leaders of the Chief Elder’s office could only smack their lips in regret.
Since it was work alongside a merchant caravan, they had planned to squeeze a little profit out of it and take a few things for themselves.
But the Vice Cult Leader’s conditions completely blocked that at the source. Reading their disappointment, Yul Han said,
“Then just choose the first one cleanly.”
It sounded exactly like he was saying, I’ll kill you cleanly.
“N-No, that won’t be necessary. We’ll take the second option. We can carry it out perfectly.”
“You should. If you can’t even manage serving as guides for a single merchant caravan, the titles of Chief Elder and direct squad leaders would be wasted.”
At Yul Han’s words, the expressions of Iron Demon and the others hardened. In short, it sounded like a notice that their positions would be taken if the results were unsatisfactory.
“There will absolutely be no failure!”
“I hope so. Ah! This is just out of caution, but the same applies on the return trip as it does when escorting the caravan across the Heavenly Mountains. If any of you are missing when you come back, I will be disappointed.”
It meant he would not tolerate any loss of life. At those words, Iron Demon and the squad leaders’ faces stiffened.
Even to masters, the Heavenly Mountains were no easy place.
Still, Iron Demon nodded, judging it far better than the first option, which guaranteed a one-way trip to the Yellow Springs if they clashed.
“There will be no such incident.”
“I’ll trust you.”
Realizing that Yul Han turning his gaze away was a dismissal order, Iron Demon withdrew with his squad leaders.
They had to hurry and make preparations before departing.
Half a sijin later, Iron Demon and the squad leaders of the Chief Elder’s office left the Bright Cult, seeing off their subordinates.
Not long after news spread through the Bright Cult that the Chief Elder had accepted the Vice Cult Leader’s test and departed beyond the Heavenly Mountains, another elder arrived at the training grounds.
It was that very elder whose whereabouts no one had known at all.
“The Fifth Elder, Poison Demon, pays his respects to the Vice Cult Leader.”
He was the Bright Cult’s greatest expert in poison arts and a divine physician said to make even Hua Tuo and Bian Que weep.
After all, poison and medicine shared no small common ground.
Clutching a booklet tightly, he clasped his fists toward Yul Han.
“What is that book?” Yul Han asked.
At the question, Poison Demon smiled meaningfully.
“A military treatise written by someone called Sun Tzu.”
The Art of War!
It was a good choice, but Yul Han doubted whether he could have truly mastered it in just one day.
With that curiosity, Yul Han asked,
“Did you gain something from it?”
“I have mastered fourteen thousand five hundred kinds of medical texts. A mere military manual is nothing. I will now receive the Vice Cult Leader’s inspection.”
“Good. Then I’ll give the Fifth Elder a problem as well.”
As Poison Demon tensed at his words, Yul Han sent him a Mental Voice Transmission.
The longer it went on, the more Poison Demon’s expression turned as if he had bitten into dung. Yul Han then asked him aloud,
“As I offered the Chief Elder, I’ll give the Fifth Elder one additional test. The choice is yours.”
“What is it? That other method?”
Poison Demon asked without even breathing, as if the test delivered through the Mental Voice Transmission had been difficult. Yul Han answered,
“You may bring your subordinates, or you may find other helpers. Use any method you like—bring me down.”
Whether intentional or not, the tip of the crescent blade slipped down at the end of his words and stabbed into the bluestone as if sinking into tofu.
Staring at the deeply embedded crescent blade, the Fifth Elder smiled awkwardly.
“Th-Then I’ll just go with what you sent earlier through the Mental Voice Transmission…”
“Will you? I don’t particularly care. Then we’ll proceed with the choice you’ve made.”
At Yul Han’s gaze, which seemed to say you chose this, so it won’t be fun if you don’t do it properly, the end of Poison Demon’s smile trembled with unease.