Chapter 120: Reform (6)

In the office of the Vice Hall Master of the Demonic Way.

Yu Geuk, now in charge of martial arts training in place of Chu Il-hwan, was reviewing reports from the instructors on the cadets’ personal histories and cultivation levels.

He was deep in a discussion about training methods with one of the instructors when the man suddenly asked, “…What’s going to happen to Instructor Chu Il-hwan?”

Yu Geuk let out a light sigh.

"It ended with his dismissal from the instructor position."

"What? But that's too..."

“What can we do? It was an order from the Supreme One himself.”

"...This is truly regrettable."

“It seems the Supreme One still hasn't withdrawn his suspicions."

At Yu Geuk's words, the instructor across from him muttered with a regretful expression.

“It would have been better if it had all ended this time. I never expected the Young Master to survive Chu Il-hwan’s attack.”

Yu Geuk also nodded with a cold expression.

“The Young Master’s skills were far beyond our estimations. I never imagined a boy that young could have reached such a level. Now I think I understand why that person is so concerned with a mere fledgling.”

The instructor nodded in agreement.

They both knew Il-mok was leagues ahead of the other students.

But still, a student was just a student. They had thought it would be impossible for him to withstand a full-blown rampage from Chu Il-hwan, one of the strongest instructors in the Hall.

“…A little more time and he would have been dead for sure. If I’d known it would turn out like this, we should have waited for a better opportunity.”

Yu Geuk shot the disappointed instructor a sharp look and clicked his tongue.

"Tsk. Wasn't this opportunity also fortunate? As they say, overthinking leads to a poor choice. If we’d waited for a ‘better’ opportunity, we might never have gotten one at all.”

Though they had devised a scheme to use Chu Il-hwan, the man himself was no pushover.

Trying to create the perfect scenario could have easily backfired and led them straight back to them. The fact that the mole had coincidentally stumbled upon Chu Il-hwan when he was about to succumb to Qi Deviation was a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck.

Unlike the regretful instructor, Yu Geuk quickly shook off his regret and coldly thought about future matters.

“Forget it. At the very least, his dismissal leaves an instructor position open. This gives us a chance to bring in another ally. It will make things easier next time.”

Between his cold features, Yu Geuk's eyes gleamed with a predatory light.

***

A few days later.

Wi Jin-hak emerged from the medical wing with a relieved expression while carrying a pile of documents.

He looked down at the documents that Il-mok had written for him one by one.

The characters were small and tightly packed, yet each line was sharp, alive, exquisitely formed.

When Il-mok had first offered to write for him, Wi Jin-hak had been stunned by the quality of the calligraphy.

But now, rather than the handwriting, he was more amazed by the meaning contained in the words written here.

'I knew he was a genius, but he still surprises his Eldest Brother every time.'

The documents contained a meticulously detailed plan for reforms that would need to be implemented steadily over the next five years.

The contents were so extensive that the stack in his hands was only a fraction of the total.

A mountain of scrolls he’d received over the past few days was already piled high in his personal quarters.

Wi Jin-hak had no idea that Il-mok, forced to churn out these countless documents, was collapsing into a dead sleep the moment their daily meetings were over.

Regardless, thanks to Il-mok’s help, Wi Jin-hak now had a clear roadmap for the monumental task ahead.

‘First things first, I need to establish the elementary education institutions and create the curriculum.’

About half a year remained until the first children who started attending the village schools would graduate.

Considering the sheer amount of work to be done, it was a ridiculously short amount of time, but it wasn’t an insurmountable problem.

‘He said to just focus on building the facilities for the new students and creating their curriculum. The rest can be done next year.’

The plan was to map out the locations of all the branches across Xinjiang, group them into clusters of four or five, and designate one temple in each cluster as a central hub—preferably the one in the largest of the five villages. Once the children graduated from their local schools, they would be gathered at these hubs to begin their elementary education.

'I need to build dormitories for the children to stay in, and for the mental stability of young children, I should designate holidays so they can return to their hometowns.'

Il-mok had even boldly introduced the concept of holidays. It was a logical step since the whole point of delaying their Demonic Arts training was to protect their young minds.

‘And since we won’t be teaching them Demonic Arts yet, he said it would be best to have them learn a basic internal energy cultivation method and foundational martial arts that won’t cause problems later when they convert their internal energy to demonic energy.’

Those basic cultivation methods and fundamental martial arts would be created together by Wi Jin-hak, a natural-born martial artist, and Hang Geon and his subordinates, whom Il-mok had abducted.

On top of that, Il-mok had listed the subjects that needed to be included in the elementary curriculum. Basic arithmetic was included for those who might go into administration or medicine, and religious doctrine was mandatory. Intertwined with the doctrine was a parallel education on basic human morality.

“How does a plan like this just pour out of that kid’s head? The more I learn, the less I understand him. Haha.”

For Wi Jin-hak, who believed that Il-mok had created everything from scratch rather than explaining what he had directly seen and experienced, he couldn't help but be amazed.

“It seems there was some truth to Master’s little joke.”

Wi Jin-hak recalled the conversation he had with his master, the Heavenly Demon, before coming to seek Il-mok's advice.

He wasn’t blind to the fact that people were targeting his youngest brother. Furious, he had even gone to his revered master and proposed a drastic solution: tear the cult and the Hall of the Demonic Way upside down to root out the conspirators.

But his serene master had refused, saying it would harm the innocent. Then he had added something strange.

—Jin-hak, a thought suddenly occurred to me. I wonder if these people are, in a way, Il-mok’s lucky charm. Hehehe.

He’d said that every time those bastards made a move, Il-mok’s growth was so rapid it was visible to the naked eye.

And Wi Jin-hak, a man who had already achieved Transcendence on a high-tier Demonic Art like the Raging Demon Sword Art, had noticed it himself during his recent interactions with Il-mok.

That Il-mok was already approaching Extremity.

‘At this rate, he might reach Extremity by the time he comes of age.’

It was a staggering rate of growth, almost unprecedented in the hundreds of years of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s history.

‘The kid’s only been in the cult for a year and a half. He’s growing even faster than Master did.’

Wi Jin-hak let out a hollow laugh and shook his head in disbelief.

***

Right after Wi Jin-hak began his work in earnest.

Throughout Xinjiang, members of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult began to move with frenzied purpose.

Swoosh!

Thud! Thud!

In the villages chosen to host the new elementary education institutions, the sounds of axes splitting wood and hammers driving stakes echoed relentlessly.

It was a bizarre sight.

Swoosh!

A man who looked like a carpenter would swing his axe once, and a massive log would split clean in two.

Thud!

Another laborer would lift two giant tree trunks, one in each hand, and carry them as if they were nothing.

It would have been impossible for ordinary people, but these were all martial artists. They were just low-ranking warriors, not particularly high on the cult’s totem pole.

Of course, that was by the cult's standards.

If you ordered martial artists from the Central Plains to chop wood and build houses, you’d likely have a rebellion on your hands.

But not these men.

‘This is a sacred order from the Heavenly Demon!’

‘Not a single mistake will be tolerated!’

With a manic gleam in their eyes, they simply threw every ounce of their being into carrying out the orders from above. Like the fanatical cultists they were.

And it wasn’t just the low-ranking warriors who were being ground down by the work.

Somewhere in the main headquarters, in the quarters of Wi Jin-hak, the Heavenly Demon’s First Disciple.

"Hah."

"That's not it. Considering the children's development, rather than including that technique, how about changing it like this?"

There, led by Wi Jin-hak, along with Hang Geon and his former subordinates, plus several mid-level masters from the cult, they were researching basic martial arts and basic cultivation methods.

On top of that, they also had to compile textbooks containing basic knowledge to teach the children.

Having already spent several days and nights there, everyone's eyes had turned dark with exhaustion.

"Whew."

And Wi Jin-hak, who seemed to be lost in solitary contemplation, suddenly got up and left his quarters.

The place he headed to was the Heavenly Demon Palace, his master's residence.

"Not enough people?"

The Heavenly Demon tilted his head at Wi Jin-hak’s report.

“Then just make each person do more work.”

Wi Jin-hak spoke again.

“For now, those working on the front lines are sufficient, Master. The problem will arise after the Elementary Demon Hall begins to operate.”

Elementary Demon Hall was the name given to the institution that would now be responsible for children's elementary education.

And Wi Jin-hak handed several letters he had prepared in advance to the Heavenly Demon.

These were the letters Il-mok had written.

After reading them, the Heavenly Demon nodded in understanding.

“So the problem is the instructors who will teach the children at the Elementary Demon Hall and the escorts responsible for the children's commuting."

“Yes, Master. The people currently building the Elementary Demon Halls and creating the curriculum will have to start building next year’s facilities and curriculum as soon as this is done, so we cannot assign them to these new roles.”

The need for instructors was obvious, but the issue of escorts was something even the Heavenly Demon hadn’t considered.

Since they were integrating four or five villages to create educational facilities and giving regular holidays, someone would have to escort them back to their home villages and bring them back again.

The problem was that if they ordered such young children to travel that long distance on their own, there was no telling what trouble might occur.

"Since they're young and would have difficulty walking such distances, we need to build carriages for the children, and we need horses or other livestock to pull those carriages. But the problem is, if we try to procure a large number of horses or livestock, we will either have to collect more money than usual from the followers or take their livestock.”

Seeing Wi Jin-hak’s concern for the livelihood of the ordinary followers, the Heavenly Demon replied with a pleased smile.

"Hahaha. Don't worry. We can just build more carriages, and there is no need to procure livestock.”

"???"

When Wi Jin-hak looked at the Heavenly Demon with a puzzled face, the Heavenly Demon revealed the solution he had instantly devised.

“Our cult is overflowing with masters. Why would we need the strength of animals to pull carts? The escorts can simply double as the ones who pull the carts.”

"!!! As expected of you, Master!!"

Wi Jin-hak was once again filled with admiration at the Heavenly Demon’s wisdom in replacing livestock with people.

‘Perhaps my youngest brother’s brilliance comes from you, Master!’