CHAPTER 368: THE RUINED KUNLUN SECT (1)

The biting cold of the Tibetan Plateau felt like it could slice through flesh.

There was hardly a tree in sight, and a wide, clear view stretched before them.

That scenery gradually changed as Yi-gang’s group entered the Central Plains.

The temperature began to rise.

Their breaths no longer formed visible clouds.

They had crossed from the region outside the Great Wall into the Central Plains.

Yi-gang traced the mountain ranges of Sichuan Province and entered the Kunlun Mountains.

In truth, even the Qinghai region where the Kunlun Mountains were located was colder and more barren than other parts of the Central Plains.

Since it was only early spring, it was not yet a season of abundant vegetation.

However, once they entered the Kunlun range, trees and shrubs grew thick and dense.

It was all due to the spiritual energy of the Kunlun Mountains.

The mystical energy flowing through the mountains caused the forest to flourish and turned ordinary animals into spiritual creatures.

Somewhere within those Kunlun Mountains, Yi-gang and his group had made camp.

They lit a campfire and sat in front of it.

The firewood crackled, and orange flames danced.

Yi-gang’s face, seated before it, was lit in patches of red.

Nearby, there was a faint but strange smell of blood.

At Gal Dong-tak’s feet, also seated near the campfire, lay remains that looked like the skinned hide of a dismantled beast.

On their way here, they had caught four rabbits.

The rabbits of the Kunlun Mountains were much larger than those found elsewhere, making them more than enough for three people.

The well-prepared meat was skewered on appropriately sized tree branches.

They leaned them diagonally toward the fire.

Ssshh—

Fat dripped from the meat and sizzled as it hit the flames.

The smell of the meat roasting made Gal Dong-tak swallow his saliva.

Yi-gang checked to see if the meat was cooked and distributed it to the group.

Gal Dong-tak got two, while Yi-gang and Dam Hyun each took one.

Yi-gang then tore off a rabbit leg from his portion and handed it to Cheongho.

Like an excited puppy wagging its tail, Cheongho gnawed at the meat voraciously.

“Phew.”

Yi-gang also blew on the meat to cool it, then took a hearty bite.

It was a simple meal—just meat roasted over an open flame.

But the seasoning was just right, and the texture was satisfyingly chewy.

Eating warm meat in the still-chilly night made his body feel a little warmer.

Everyone quickly finished off their share of the meat.

“That was delicious.”

Dam Hyun said as he wiped his thumb clean.

“Your cooking skills keep improving.”

“I just roasted it, that’s all.”

Yi-gang stared blankly into the fire.

Dam Hyun had a good idea of what Yi-gang was thinking.

These days, his sajae1 was troubled by two things.

One was about the ‘supreme ultimate technique.’

Even though Yi-gang had reached the absolute realm, he had yet to manifest his own supreme ultimate technique.

While he could imitate Zhang Sanfeng’s Non-Act Daydream, that was merely a copy.

Even the Divine Monk and Boddhidharma had advised him: Find your own supreme ultimate technique.

“Thinking about that supreme ultimate technique again? Do you think it’ll come just by brooding over it?”

“Huh? No, not at all.”

Yi-gang replied with a straight face.

Then it must be the second concern.

“Your younger brother and the other successors?”

“Yeah… … well, yeah”

At the Kunlun Sect, martial artists including the successors were holding the defensive line.

Among them was Ha-jun and several others.

“They say the defensive line completely collapsed…”

There was a chance that Ha-jun was not safe.

“We need to go check.”

Yi-gang’s group decided to head to the Kunlun Sect rather than join the main forces of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance right away.

The route passing through there was more practical, and they had the justification of searching for possible survivors.

Dam Hyun stared quietly at Yi-gang and then spoke.

“Your brother and those successors all pull their own weight.”

After a thoughtful pause, he added,

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m sure they’re safe.”

Was that meant to be comforting?

It was hard to tell.

「Your younger brother is surely safe.」

Zhang Sanfeng had said that.

Even while bleeding from his nose, Dam Hyun had succeeded in fusing a fragment of the Heavenly Demon’s soul into the Heavenly Demon Plaque.

Since then, it became possible to communicate with Zhang Sanfeng within the Heavenly Demon Plaque.

Originally, he said he would fight life-or-death battles with the Heavenly Demon several times a day, but now it seems to have decreased to about once a day.

「The warriors of our cult wouldn’t be that soft. The Demon Cult doesn’t take prisoners.」

The issue, however, was that he could now also communicate with the Heavenly Demon.

Unlike Zhang Sanfeng, the Heavenly Demon was not friendly toward Yi-gang.

「Zhao Guang, do you lack empathy? Must you dampen the mood while Daoist Yi-gang is worried about his brother’s safety?」

「You expect too much of me.」

Zhang Sanfeng and Zhao Guang’s bickering could be heard.

The Heavenly Demon spoke in a mocking voice.

「Go on, hurry to the Kunlun Sect. Your brother’s severed head is waiting for you…」

‘Shut up, you petty jerk.’

「Pe… petty jerk?」

Before he could get angry at the insult, the Heavenly Demon seemed utterly dumbfounded.

「What does that even mean…」

Yi-gang cut him off and pulled the Heavenly Demon Plaque from his robes, shoving it into a leather pouch.

That made further communication impossible.

One can call it a convenient mute function.

Though internal disputes between the furious Heavenly Demon and Zhang Sanfeng might break out, Zhang Sanfeng would probably find it amusing.

“Sahyung,2 you said there were two soul fragments left, right?”

“That’s what I heard. The third-generation disciples took the Divine Demon Disk and went to retrieve one…”

There were still two remaining soul fragments of the Heavenly Demon that needed to be found.

One was being pursued by Jun Myung, Son Hee-il, and Yu Su-rin.

The problem was the location suspected to hold the last fragment.

“The Demon Cult, huh…”

It was believed that the remaining soul fragment was in the Demon Cult.

If it had really been there, wouldn’t the Seven Immortals have already secured it?

However, since the Heavenly Demon had confirmed it, it probably wasn’t a lie.

“Even if we know where it is, we have no way of retrieving it.”

Even if Yi-gang had ascended to the ranks of absolute master, he couldn’t just charge into the Demon Cult alone.

The Demon Cult had several masters who weren’t even listed among the Twelve Stars of the Divine Land.

According to the Mad Wind Society’s testimony, the High Spirit Palace Master was considered an absolute master.

Assuming the palace master and the cult leader were both in the Absolute Realm wasn’t unreasonable.

“Can’t even sneak in.”

“Still, that might be our best bet. Just steal it quietly.”

“How do you expect me to sneak into the Demon Cult?”

“That’s for you to figure out.”

Though Dam Hyun had said that, infiltrating the Demon Cult was no easy task.

If they were to weigh the odds of success, it would be better for the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance to go all the way to Xinjiang and wipe out the Demon Cult entirely.

“That wouldn’t be easy either. Do you know how far and rugged Xinjiang is?”

The main base of the Demon Cult had never once fallen.

Even when a massive Ming army set out to subjugate them, it held strong—so the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance would be reluctant to bear such a burden.

“…Let’s think about it later.”

Yi-gang stood up.

That wasn’t the most important matter right now.

Yi-gang’s group had planned to stop by Fox Spirit Village on their way to the Kunlun Sect.

For supplies and rest.

And the Fox Spirit Village was a Kunlun village that worshiped a fox deity.

It was a village not far from Gumiho, who was revered as the Heavenly Thunder White-Tailed Foxes guardian deity’s dwelling place..

However, when Yi-gang’s party arrived there, it was not villagers who greeted them.

Creeeak—

When they opened the door of what had once been someone’s home in the village, a rush of cold air came from outside.

A foul stench lingered in the air.

It was the smell of a dead village.

In Yi-gang’s vision were the corpses of villagers, half-reduced to bare bones.

Fox Spirit Village had long since been ravaged by martial artists of the Demon Cult.

“Do you think the Heavenly Thunder White-Tailed Foxes are safe…”

Yi-gang had originally intended to meet the Gumiho once.

Now that Cheongho had grown this much, it would be good to seek her advice.

Just then, Cheongho approached Yi-gang’s feet.

Yi-gang picked up Cheongho in his arms.

“Shall we go over there? To where your mother… Gumi lives.”

He hadn’t really asked expecting an answer.

But Cheongho shook his head.

「Mom… isn’t there…」

Cheongho said nothing more.

Yi-gang remained silent, then returned to the cabin.

They took their rest there for the time being.

The next morning.

As soon as the sun rose, the group headed toward the dwelling of the Heavenly Thunder White-Tailed Fox.

Unlike before, none of the Gumiho’s children came out to greet them.

They made their way to the cave where the Gumiho used to live, but she was not there either.

Only a few long, smooth fox hairs remained on the ground, as if to prove that she had once existed.

“Do you have any idea where they all went?”

Cheongho shook his head.

In that case, there was nothing more they could do.

Yi-gang and his party turned around and headed toward the Kunlun Sect.

What awaited them was the charred and collapsed ruin of the Kunlun Sect.

The young Taoist children who used to run around the mountain gate were gone, and the pond and koi fish that the Six-Bean Hermit had cherished had dried up, revealing the bare bottom.

The stench of rot and burnt flesh filled the air.

“They’re all dead.”

Dam Hyun muttered those words.

The once-prestigious Kunlun Sect had been utterly destroyed.

Looking around, there were corpses everywhere.

At least several hundred people had died here.

“Did you find them?”

Dam Hyun asked while scanning the surroundings.

Yi-gang and Gal Dong-tak said nothing as they continued inspecting the corpses.

Perhaps it was fortunate, as rain hadn’t fallen recently.

Otherwise, the bodies would have rotted completely by now.

Of course, the current situation wasn’t much better.

“…I can’t recognize any of them.”

Even Yi-gang, with his keen eyes, couldn’t identify the half-decayed corpses.

He could only determine whether they were orthodox, unorthodox, or Demon Cult based on their clothing and weapons.

“For a collapsed defensive line, there seem to be more Demon Cult corpses.”

Followers of the Demon Cult wore matching dark-colored uniforms.

“Well, those guys always relied on overwhelming numbers anyway.”

In terms of average skill, the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance’s martial artists were far superior to the Demon Cult’s.

Perhaps because of that, even in battlefields where the Demon Cult had won, their bodies made up the majority.

About thirty percent were Taoists from the Kunlun Sect.

Roughly twenty percent were martial artists of the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance.

Yi-gang and Gal Dong-tak were checking the corpses to see if they recognized anyone among them.

“Hey!”

Gal Dong-tak quickly dropped to his knees.

His eyes grew moist.

“It’s Uncle Gangdu…”

The corpse laying faced-down, clutching a massive axe, looked like someone from Green Forest.

With a bitter expression, Gal Dong-tak began to recover the body.

Yi-gang, who had been quietly watching, stood up.

‘…I don’t see him.’

Should he call it a small mercy? So far, he hadn’t found the body of anyone close to him.

If Ha-jun were among the corpses here, no matter how much time had passed, Yi-gang would have recognized him.

‘There’s still a place I haven’t checked…’

The Kunlun Sect grounds were fairly vast.

Among them, he had yet to enter the hall at the very center.

Yi-gang, who had been searching the outer area, now made his way there.

And then—

Someone was watching them from a distance.

“Huff… huff…”

Struggling to catch his breath was a man with disheveled hair.

His face was smeared pitch black with soot, and dried blood clung to his entire body, making him look like a madman.

His eyes burned with fury and madness.

He was the very image of a demon.

Only after watching Yi-gang head toward Kunlun’s Hall of the Heavenly Scales did he finally rise to his feet.

“Hmph!”

He inhaled sharply and thrust both arms forward.

Then a violent gust surged forth.

Whooouuuush!

A fierce wind filled with dust and ash swept over Yi-gang’s group.

No matter how skilled a martial artist, they couldn’t help but instinctively turn their bodies and shield their faces.

And the madman began to run.

Drawing his sword with one hand, he dashed forward faster than the wind.

His target was Yi-gang.

To the one who dared trespass into the Hall of the Heavenly Scales, he delivered rightful punishment.

As he extended his hand, the sword he held unleashed a surge of Qi force and shot forward.

It was Kunlun’s secret technique, the perfected Flying Sword Technique.

Just as the flying sword was about to pierce Yi-gang’s body—

Pababak!

Yi-gang twisted his body in an instant and leapt into the air.

From midair, he freely rotated his body’s orientation.

The flying sword narrowly missed, grazing only his collar.

“Die, Demon Cult scum!”

The madman, overcome with rage, raised both hands and charged at Yi-gang.

And Yi-gang, instead of retaliating by throwing his sword, evaded once more.

Then he shouted—

“Sir Go Yo-ja!”

At the sound of his Taoist name being called, Go Yo-ja abruptly halted.

Only then did the other man’s face come clearly into view.

It was a familiar face.

“Taoist…Yi-gang?”

1. TL/N: a junior in Murim or of the same sect ️

2. TL/N: A male senior of the same lineage in a sect, or in Murim ️