Chapter 176
It was not very difficult for Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim to contact the Demon Sect.
The letter had a rough location marked on it, and the meeting place was not far from where they were.
It was a large but shabby pavilion, and beyond the gate, they saw agents in the same outfit as them gathered in groups.
“Stop.”
A masked giant standing at the front gate said so with his arms crossed.
Behind his back, two huge swords were hanging.
Kwon Jia knew that he was the gatekeeper and a specialized combat agent of this place.
Kwon Jia immediately showed him the letter.
“Hmm. I confirm. You’re late compared to the others.”
“We had some trouble.”
“Trouble, huh.”
The masked man’s eyes narrowed.
Kwon Jia noticed that his eyes were scanning their bodies.
“Hmm. You look suspicious. Were there any beauties like you among the agents dispatched in this area?”
Kwon Jia and Kang Hye-rim had an aura that could not be hidden even if they disguised themselves.
The man’s keen eye caught it right away.
‘This is annoying.’
Kwon Jia frowned.
He did not doubt or suspect them.
Rather, he was showing his lust.
But that did not mean that they could take this situation lightly.
Judging by his brazen attitude, he seemed to be someone who wielded power in this place.
In the Demon Sect, where power ruled, there was no reason to stop him.
Kwon Jia was at a loss for what to do in this sudden situation.
She couldn’t cause a scene here, but she also couldn’t let herself be bullied.
More than that, she was weak to these kinds of ‘unexpected’ situations.
‘What should I do?’
As she desperately racked her brain, the man approached her in no time.
He reached out his malicious hand towards Kwon Jia.
At that moment, Kang Hye-rim, who had been quiet until now, moved like lightning.
Kang Hye-rim grabbed the man’s wrist and slammed him to the ground with all her strength.
Despite the size difference of twice as much, the man’s body couldn’t resist Kang Hye-rim’s power.
“Ugh?”
The soldier looked up at her with a bewildered and pained expression.
Kang Hye-rim glared at him with a murderous aura.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uh, uh?”
The combat unit member, Bang Cheol, was speechless for a moment.
He was flustered by the fact that he was subdued in an instant without being able to fight back and that the informant in front of him was emitting such a tremendous killing intent.
‘How, how did this happen…’
“Are you not going to answer?”
“Ah, no, it’s just…”
Bang Cheol belatedly realized that the person he was dealing with was not an ordinary informant.
‘She, she’s a master! Could it be, one of the righteous faction’s…!’
His thoughts were cut off there.
It was because of the words that Kang Hye-rim spat out.
“The balance of power here has gone too far. How dare you indulge in such selfish desires while we’re at war with the righteous faction.”
It was a word that Kang Hye-rim uttered almost instinctively.
Following the mood and flow, and being conscious of the surrounding eyes, she unknowingly said that.
The acting skills that she had honed as a ‘sword master’ while being diligently trained by Yu Hyun and Baek Seoryeon shone in this place.
“Gasp!”
Bang Cheol also realized the situation belatedly.
The four words ‘secret martial arts sect’ popped up in his head.
He had failed to recognize one of the high-ranking members of the sect and tried to touch them rudely.
“I’m, I’m sorry…”
“Quiet. If you make such a fuss, it will ruin the reason why I came here secretly.”
“Huff.”
Bang Cheol broke out in a cold sweat.
Kang Hye-rim lifted him up again.
His huge body followed her slender hand without any strength.
Bang Cheol rolled his eyes.
He had no excuse even if his neck was cut off right now for messing with a master.
“I’ve thought about how to deal with you.”
“Please, please spare me…”
“I told you to be quiet.”
“…me.”𝗻𝗼𝘷𝑒𝘭𝗯𝓲𝒏.𝓃𝑒𝒕
Bang Cheol begged pitifully, but also quietly so that it wouldn’t cause a commotion.
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Kang Hye-rim pretended to think hard while holding him in front of her.
“I would like to cut off your dirty wrist, but… right now, the war with the righteous faction is more important. So I’ll let you go this once.”
“Gasp. Tha, thank you.”
“But, if something like this happens again… I won’t stay still.”
“Remember, I will remember.”
Kang Hye-rim turned her back on Bang Cheol.
She winked at Kwon Jia with one eye, asking ‘How was I?’
Kwon Jia nodded blankly.
She was amazed by Kang Hye-rim’s quick-witted response.
She had managed to get through the situation somehow, and Kang Hye-rim was about to take Kwon Jia inside.
That’s when Bang Cheol called out from behind.
“Uh, excuse me…”
Thud.
The two stopped in their tracks.
They exchanged glances.
‘Did he find out?’
‘What do we do then?’
Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia were worried that they had been caught.
But fortunately, that was not the case.
“Uh, how did you… ah, never mind. You were on a secret mission, right? I, I didn’t hear anything.”
“…I’ll let it slide this time.”
Kang Hye-rim said coldly, dragging Kwon Jia inside.
The two sighed in relief as they passed through the entrance.
“Phew. I thought we were busted.”
“…I was surprised too. Who would have thought you could pull off such a trick there? How did you do it?”
“Me? I don’t know, it just happened.”
It sounded like an excuse, but Kang Hye-rim really felt that way instinctively. Kwon Jia could tell from her voice that it was the truth.
‘She was born with it.’
There are people like that.
People who show much more amazing abilities than usual in times of crisis.
They may look clumsy and incompetent normally, but when a sudden emergency arises, they show an astonishing level of competence.
Their true power is not all that meets the eye.
And this kind of ability is something that can only be innate.
‘No wonder he chose her.’
Kwon Jia could not think or act as freely as Kang Hye-rim.
She was always rigid and fixed in her behavior and thoughts.
That’s why she had learned how to deal with different situations through experience of death and repetition.
Others might think her ability was amazing, but in reality it was not.
Her ability was the result of hundreds of lives that were invisible to others, piled up and sedimented like strata.
She felt something she didn’t have in Kang Hye-rim.
‘If the power of regression was given to her instead of me…’
Maybe this world could change very easily?
It was a meaningless assumption, but Kwon Jia could not shake off that thought easily.
“Let’s go in.”
“…Yeah.”
Now that they had come this far, finding out information about the cult was a must.
Unlike before, this time Kang Hye-rim walked ahead.
***
A quiet room shrouded in deep darkness.
Seo Sumin opened her mouth.
“I was an orphan.”
The first story she uttered was the oldest memory she had.
“I woke up one day and found myself alone. The life of an orphan in the martial world was truly horrible. I struggled to survive, and years passed by. I think I was about ten years old when it happened?”
An old man came looking for her.
When she spoke of him, Seo Sumin’s expression was twisted beyond description.
Yu Hyun silently waited for her to continue.
“After that, I joined the sect. It was called a demonic sect by the orthodox martial artists and the common people, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was food and shelter.”
She didn’t ask for anything more.
No.
There was one thing.
It was gratitude for the old man who gave her a new life.
“I had an incredible talent. A talent that was unimaginable. That’s why I became strong quickly.”
She grew at an astonishing speed, and in ten years, she became the youngest elder in the sect.
There were many things that happened during those ten years.
There were annoying things and hard things, but it was also the happiest time of her life.
Because she could see the old man often.
“I wanted to repay him for everything. I wanted his approval. I wanted to hear him say that I did well, and praise me more. Yeah. I thought that’s how it would be if I had a real grandfather.”
She didn’t lack ambition for martial arts. But her feelings for the old man were stronger.
The unfortunate thing for her was that her talent surpassed a certain level and became ‘very dangerous’.
The place where she lived was Cheonmashin sect, where the strong ruled.
There, power was authority, and they were the stars of the sky that everyone looked up to.
When the current Cheonma passed away, and it was time to choose the next Cheonma.
Everyone whispered in agreement.
Normally, in this case, the person with the strongest martial arts should succeed, but the problem was that Cheonmashin sect, which revered strength, had become corrupted over time.
They no longer pursued strength alone.
Some of them worried about their safety and tried to protect their power, political strife ensued, and factions emerged.
Like stagnant water that slowly rotted, the huge organization called Cheonmashin sect began to crack from within.
“One day, the old man called me and told me that if this continued, the sect would fall apart. It had nothing to do with me, but he was different.”
“…So he joined the fight for the successor?”
“He wanted me to do that.”
She had no claim to legitimacy, nor any valid reason.
She knew it was absurd, but she agreed to do it anyway.
“Because I had the power to do it.”
She didn’t need anything else.
What she had was power. Only power.
And Cheonmashin sect was a world of the strong.
It didn’t matter if it was distorted. She had the power to correct the twisted doctrine.
So for a year.
She defeated all her competitors with her power, and ascended as the new Cheonma.
“You’ve lived a tumultuous life.”
“I did. It was all thanks to this power. This cursed talent that lifted me up high.”
And then.
It made her fall from that high place.
Seo Sumin became Cheonma and did her best in her position.
She couldn’t do nothing after climbing up there.
“But I couldn’t completely suppress the discontent that was brewing under the surface.”
No matter how powerful she was, legitimacy was another issue.
The elders opposed her, and some of the elders also harbored resentment towards her.
The cracks that were barely patched widened again.
“I tried to stop the division, but it wasn’t easy. Then a suggestion came up while I was wondering what to do.”
“Conquering the Central Plains martial world?”
“Yes.”
To quell the internal discontent, they had to strike at an external enemy.
It just so happened that the sect had a new Cheonma who was unprecedentedly strong.
So they left Shimmansan and headed towards Central Plains with a dream of conquering it, which they had failed long ago.
That’s how Jeongsa War started, and in the heated battle, even Gwangun joined in.
That’s what led to this World War situation now.
It’s happening in real time now, but Yu Hyun knew it.
This battle was already a past event, and Seo Sumin’s nightmare.
“What happened in this Jeongsa War?”
“Betrayal.”
Seo Su-min hugged her knees with both arms and said.
Her voice was trembling with sorrow.
“My grandfather, whom I trusted so much, betrayed me.”
***
“Betrayal.”
Kang Hye-rim’s eyes widened at Kwon Jia’s words.
They had just started gathering information here a while ago.
And then they accidentally discovered an important fact.
“One of the factions of the Heavenly Demon Religion, the Blood Shadow Squad, is plotting a betrayal.”
“Isn’t the Blood Shadow Squad where the current Heavenly Demon lived as a leader before? But why?”
“I don’t know either. But their atmosphere is strange somehow.”
Kwon Jia’s sharp gaze pointed at the informants who were gathered in groups.
“They are affiliated with the religion, but they don’t seem to have any reverence for the Heavenly Demon.”
Rather, they felt more hostility and wariness.
Kwon Jia couldn’t understand the negative emotions of those fantasy beings. In her knowledge, wasn’t the Heavenly Demon their leader?
‘He should be like a god to them, why?’
She needed to find more information.
Fortunately, this place was a space where they collected all kinds of data to check the war situation.
It wasn’t very difficult to find the information she wanted.
‘It must be one of the many branches for verifying information, but it doesn’t matter. I have everything I need right now.’
The ones around them were all specialized in espionage rather than fighting skills.
There was no risk of being caught if Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia moved stealthily with their intentions hidden.
Kwon Jia immediately checked the data on the current leader of the Blood Shadow Squad.
“Hwang An-jun, the current leader of the Blood Shadow Squad.”
He was known as Old Man Hwang in the religion, and he was the one who raised the current Heavenly Demon.
And he was trying to betray the Heavenly Demon now.
