Chapter 89: A Visitor from the Empire (1)
Chapter 89: A Visitor from the Empire (1)
The enthronement took place five days later.
Hyuk Woon-seong’s coronation was in no means grand.
Only the Ten Demonic Masters, the Divine Maiden, and a few chosen Demonic Kings and Great Demons participated.
Before Chun Hwi had brought Woon-seong inside the Divine Palace, he had asked Lee Shin-jung to pass on a message to the Senior Strategist.
Of course, the message had been ‘follow the plan’, but that was enough.
Sang Gwan-chuk knew what the plan was.
Build a foundation so that Woon-seong may peacefully inherit the position of Heavenly Demon.
Although about half the Demonic Masters had friendly relations with Woon-seong, and the other half were either neutral or had pledged allegiance after Joo Moon-baek died, Woon-seong’s following within the Cult was still considerably weak.
That made sense.
Woon-seong was not a prestigious disciple that was brought up inside the Cult.
He was merely an outstanding talent from the Cave of Latent Demons — who knew who he was before that.
Moreover, the time Woon-seong spent as the Young Leader was also short, making it hard for him to build enough power.
In fact, the biggest force behind Woon-seong was currendly the ordinary cultists, not the powerful elite.
Woon-seong, who had started off as the lowest of the low in the Cave of Latent Demons, was now the symbol of hope for the commoners.
But that heroism would not hold for the elite.
For those who had not seen Woon-seong in action, the youth was just lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.
The plan of Chun Hwi and Sang Gwan-chuk was to create a powerful backer for Woon-seong within this division.
Of course, it wasn’t easy.
But it wasn’t that hard either.
Like mentioned earlier, half of the Demonic Masters had already pledged allegiance to Woon-seong.
Woon-seong had barely met any of the Demonic Kings, but he received full support from the Charred Dragon Unit and the White Ape Unit.
Moreover, Woon-seong had unexpectedly been able to receive the support of the Unrecorded Demonic Group.
Although they were unrecorded, they were still very influential within the Cult.
Thus the Senior Strategist and Lee Shin-jung refined Woon-seong’s foundation within the Cult.
This plan continued until the moment Woon-seong stepped out of the Inner Garden.
Thanks to their hard work, more and more supporters of Woon-seong began to appear.
Amongst them, Woon-seong ascended to his throne.
It was the day the Heavenly Demon, the god of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, rose to his throne…
But it was restrained due to the former Heavenly Demon’s funeral, which had ended not long ago.
Still, Woon-seong was the new Heavenly Demon.
That was an undeniable fact.
As proof of that, Woon-seong was now sitting where Chun Hwi had always sat.
Looking down from the highest level in the Palace…
During the beginning of this new era, the Ten Demonic Masters — which was now the Eight Demonic Masters — were showing either of two emotions.
Out of all of them, the one who seemed to be the most proud and triumphant was Koo Jong-byuk, the Wind Demon Fist King.
With the help of the medical division, he attended the enthronement fully healed. And as a man who fought side-by-side with the new Leader, he was naturally filled with pride.
The three Demonic masters who once sided with Joo Moon-baek each offered treasures and unique items as a sign of apology.
Woon-seong had no intention of blaming them. Though they had chosen the opposing side, they had eventually surrendered and asked to be punished for their sins.
And as a result, Woon-seong asked them to lay low for a while.
He also added one condition.
I’m sure they will follow this condition.
“Whenever I ask for it, would you promise that you will do a favor for me, no matter what it is?”
“Of course, Leader! How can we possibly refuse to do so!”
Woon-seong smiled.
Maybe he looked a little deranged, since the three Demonic Masters seemed to freeze and tremble.
Their expressions were clear to Woon-seong, as he was looking down at them.
Granting them some small mercies, he decided to move on.
“For now, I shall no longer talk about the past.”
‘Fow now’, he says…, grumbled one of the Demonic Masters.
The new Leader would not talk about it for now, but he would definitely be bringing up their unsatisfactory pasts the moment it was useful.
None of the people present did not understand the implications of those words.
Even the Fist King, who was not used to using his head, knew that much. [TN: Ayo, burn]
However, the three Demonic Masters could only bow their heads because that was the new Leader.
Of course, the threat was not the only reason behind their deference.
Hmm… The force of the new Leader…
Hah. So he has already gone beyond Transcendence at such a young age.
It was because of the overwhelming force coming from Woon-seong’s body, which crushed his surroundings.
It was not a conscious show of power.
Woon-seong had reached a level where the moment his mind decided on something, his qi would have already responded to that will.
The new Leader in front of us is no longer the same man as the Young Leader we once knew. We can no longer find the remains of the brat who was barely at Transcendence.
The Heavenly Demon.
Woon-seong… How far did you go? Is this the realm of a Semi-Divine Being…? From the side, A-young could not help but comment within her heart.
Woon-seong had stepped into the threshold of the gods.
He’s proven himself worthy as the new god of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.
***
“Now then, we’ll start the regular meeting.”
All those Demonic Masters bowed their heads, including the Senior Strategist. Of course, so did the Demonic Kings and Great Demons standing beyond.
The regular meetings took place once a month.
Unlike other meetings, these were mandatory, even for Demonic Masters.
Each regular meeting determined the operation of the Demonic Cult for the next month.
This was the first regular meeting since Woon-seong’s enthronement.
“I shall present agendas that need to be taken care of.”
The Senior Strategist listed a whole number of things, including major issues that needed to be dealt with both inside and outside the Cult.
Woon-seong sat there and listened. None of what the Strategist was saying was unimportant.
“And each branch of the Cult will be informed of the appointment of the new leader via carrier pigeon. I doubt there will be any opposition.”
Woon-seong nodded. “Proceed quietly as we are still in the middle of the funeral.”
The Strategist bowed his head. All of a sudden, he remembered one more thing.
“Also…”
“Hmm?”
Words flowed from the Strategist’s mouth and Woon-seong paid close attention.
“I’m sure everyone gathered here knows, but conquering Zhongyuan has always been our Cult’s greatest ambition. Originally, our Cult was built by those who fled from Zhongyuan after being unjustly framed by those in Murim. The First Heavenly Demon, the Founder of our Cult, heavily emphasized this as a shared dream. Of course, the Cult has weathered many hardships because of it and we have never been successful. Everyone in this place has learned the same history — the history of our ancestors who came here after being unjustly framed. Of course, we can’t say that everyone was unjustly framed because there truly are treacherous beings among us demonic practitioners.”
Listening, Woon-seong nodded to himself.
“However, most of us cult members are not like that. They — we — are normal people who farmed and cultivated the harsh lands of the Heavenly Mountains. And I beg our Leader to fulfill the oldest wish of our members.”
Eventually, the Senior Strategist turned his attention back to Woon-seong, seeking his response.
So in short, he’s asking what we’re going to do about Zhongyuan and it’s Martial Alliance.
As a matter of fact, Woon-seong did have an answer.
This reminds me of what Master Nok Yu told me long ago.
“The Demonic side has their own story.”
How interesting that Woon-seong would come to live that story.
Woon-seong’s answer was already a given.
However, he could not quickly make a decision.
“How was Master?”
The Senior Strategist closed his eyes for a moment.
“Our former leader was preparing to conquer Zhongyuan. However, conducting such a campaign was not an option when internal affairs had yet to be resolved. After all, Zhongyuan is no easy target.”
Woon-seong nodded.
That wasn’t wrong.
“However, we have already purged Joo Moon-baek, who was conspiring within the Cult. It’s safe to say we took care of our internal matters.”
“Ah!”
“Ooh!”
The possibility of war was the last thing on the agenda for the regular meeting.
Woon-seong slowly got up from his throne and looked down at the practitioners below.
“I also agree with the former leader.”
Cheering broke out amongst the crowd.
Naturally, the Cult had also been founded on the grounds of conquest, as the scarce lands of Xinjiang only provoked the aggressive nature of the demonic.
Among them, the Fist King clenched his fists and looked forward to battle.
“However!”
Woon-seong silenced them.
“Now is not the time! Build up your strength and hone your skills! Prepare yourself to bring hell to Zhongyuan!”
There was a reason behind Woon-seong’s words.
Obviously, the Strategist understood it well. He’s telling us to properly prepare for the upcoming war.
Weapons, soldiers, supplies, tactics and strategy.
“We’ll need to increase and reform our combat units. It’s not just the Twelve Supporting Units. We’ll need to systematically manage the other units too. I assume you understand my words.”
All of the practitioners bowed their heads.
“Yes, Lord!”
After saying his piece, Woon-seong left everything else to the Strategist.
As he was leaving, he suddenly heard a message.
— Flower of the Dark Night reporting, Lord. Someone is making a fuss at the entrance of the Heavenly Mountain. He claims that he must meet the Leader. What should I do?
***
There was a crowd of people gathered, swords pointed towards a certain direction.
There were a lot of them, though most of them could not be considered strong.
But with numbers you can overcome skill and power, so it was not a group of people easily ignored.
That was common sense for ordinary practitioners of Murim.
Did the person standing in front of them have no common sense?
“Oh my. What is all this?”
The man chuckled to himself.
“I simply asked for a meeting with the Leader, not a band of demonic practitioners. From Demonic Soldiers to Demonic Generals, this is quite the bunch.”
“You stupid old fart. Is the Leader someone you can meet just because you want to?”
The old man’s words made one of the Demonic Generals infuriated and he rushed forward.
A swift and unprecedented move flashed, proving that the Demonic General was top notch!
In a single movement, the Demonic General had dashed out and swung his sword, aiming straight at the old man’s head.
“Haha!”
Surprisingly, the old man laughed.
At the same time, the old man used a staff to keep the sword at bay.
Clang—
Half the sword flew into the air, landing on the ground a few metres away.
The Demonic General, now missing half a blade, stood there dumbfounded. He broke the steel sword with a wooden staff! How?!
The Demonic General wasn’t given any time to think, as the elderly man danced with his staff and smacked him here and there.
“U-Ugh!”
In one fell swoop, the Demonic General had collapsed onto the floor spitting blood.
A clean, fast victory.
All the practitioners gathered realized that the old man was much stronger than they previously thought.
“Hmm. For a second, I almost thought you were the leader, judging by how confident you were… But I doubt you’re even a guard dog.”
Flames of anger flashed through the eyes of the crowd.
That man had just walked to the entrance of their Cult and provoked them!
They were indignant, knowing that they could not defeat the man before them, but unwilling to back down from such a taunt.
It was at that moment that Sang In-hyo, who had rushed over from the Palace, arrived.
“What is going on?”
Sang In-hyo could be considered a direct superior to the men gathered in the crowd. Hoping to resolve the conflict quickly, he met the eyes of the old man.
Formidable skills and an aged face… Holding a red pinewood staff in his hand.
With a quick glance, Sang In-hyo was able to guess the old man’s identity, though they had never met before.
“You’re… the Mysterious Old Man!”
“Call me a sage, you young brat.”
The old man was sometimes known as the ‘Mysterious Old Man’, but preferred to be known as the ‘Sage of Earth and Sky’.
It was unknown why such a figure had appeared in the Cult.
Sang In-hyo could not guarantee anything when faced with such an opponent. Still, he reached for his sword.
“And what brings you here?”
“Oh?”
The Sage found the overall situation a bit amusing, but he did not like Sang In-hyo’s attitude.
Groaning, he took something out of his sleeves and threw it at Sang In-hyo.
An assassination weapon?
No.
It was a scroll which read:
“The Sage of Sky and Earth comes as the messenger of King Jinseong and wishes to meet the Leader of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.”