Chapter 86

It happened then.

As Sa Won-yang moved to strike Hwa Young-bin, something glowing blue suddenly shot toward her back.

A shuriken!

“!”

Startled, Sa Won-yang had no choice but to halt her attack on Hwa Young-bin and raise her defenses.

KRAAAASH!

When Sa Won-yang’s swinging hand collided with the shuriken, a massive explosion erupted.

It was a steel ring.

The same kind Sa Won-yang had used earlier…

With a twisted expression, she shouted, “Who the hell are you?!”

A voice answered from above.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the real Sa Won-yang. So the So-myeon Demon has been hiding here all along!”

Standing atop the wall of Jeonghyeopbang was a middle-aged Taoist with a pure, serene aura, dressed in blue robes.

Hwa Young-bin’s face registered shock as he called out, “Jang Moon-in?!”

Jang Moon-in?

That meant he was Cheong Myeong-jin, the head of the Cheongseong faction.

Sa Won-yang’s face contorted as she spat out his name, “Cheong Myeong… you…”

“How dare you invade north of the front lines? This ends now, So-myeon Demon.”

One by one, figures clad in blue robes appeared on the wall around him.

They were elite warriors of the Cheongseong faction.

Hwa Young-bin muttered, clearly unsettled, “Jang Moon-in? How…?”

According to what Hwa Young-bin had told me, Jang Moon-in was affiliated with the Pro-Murim Alliance. After participating in the Jeonghyeol Grand Tournament, he had leveraged the Alliance’s power to become the head of Cheongseong.

That’s why Hwa Young-bin had assumed he would oppose any attack on Jeonghyeopbang.

So seeing him here in person was a surprise.

But I had a rough idea of what was going on.

I sent a message to Hwa Young-bin.

— Looks like a dispatch from the Murim Alliance. Probably the same situation as with Amipa. That’s why they could arrive so quickly.

Sa Won-yang’s eyes burned red as she burst into a wild laugh.

“Hahaha! Do you really think I, Sa Won-yang, will fall to some Cheongseong scum?! I’ll send you all to the afterlife!”

Then another voice rang out from behind.

“If Cheongseong isn’t enough, what about us?!”

Looking back, I saw more figures appearing on the opposite wall.

This time, they wore green robes.

Hwa Young-bin whispered again, eyes wide, “Dangmun too?”

Dangmun—the Four Heavenly Gates.

Come to think of it, Amipa, Cheongseong, and Dangmun had all participated in the Jeonghyeol Grand Tournament.

It seemed the Murim Alliance’s influence extended over all three factions.

At least that was some relief.

Thanks to that, it seemed our lives were spared.

Taking advantage of Sa Won-yang’s distracted focus, I quickly slipped away.

Bang!

I grabbed Hwa Young-bin and moved toward the Cheongseong side, whispering to him.

“It seems the heavens still won’t allow the arrival of Hero Hwa.”

He had seemed almost relieved at the thought of death, so these words were meant for him.

He stared at me blankly for a moment, then smiled faintly and murmured, “…Is that so?”

Sa Won-yang watched us retreat, but couldn’t make a move.

The pressure from the Cheongseong and Dangmun warriors surrounding her was too overwhelming.

The leader of Dangmun, a middle-aged man with a jade-like face, shouted, “Sa Won-yang! Resistance is useless! Surrender quietly!”

But Sa Won-yang, as if burning her last strength, unleashed a crimson aura from her hands and yelled, “Don’t be ridiculous! You righteous fools! Do you think I’ll be caught by the likes of you?!”

The Dangmun leader exchanged a glance with Cheong Myeong-jin and said, “If you want to be punished, so be it. Fine! We’ll grant your wish!”

He leapt forward, closing in on Sa Won-yang.

The other Dangmun and Cheongseong warriors moved swiftly as well, encircling her.

Together, there were about a hundred of them.

And judging by appearances, several were top-tier experts rivaling Sa Won-yang herself.

She was trapped.

There was no way she could break through now.

But surprisingly, the situation was far from over.

“Sa! Won! Yang!”

A voice thundered across the land, shaking the earth itself.

From the distant night sky, someone was hurtling down like a meteor.

A massive man, reminiscent of Bae Jong-kwan in size.

But no expert with such overwhelming presence could be Bae Jong-kwan.

Then I remembered—I’d heard that voice before, on the front lines.

No way…!

The giant, blazing like a red meteor, descended straight toward Sa Won-yang, shouting,

“How dare you betray the Supreme! I will not forgive you!”

His enormous body was wrapped in a crimson circular barrier.

“That’s…”

If my eyes weren’t deceiving me, it was the same protective steel aura Sa Won-yang had barely managed to summon earlier, now enveloping the giant’s entire body.

I whispered involuntarily, “My god…”

Sa Won-yang’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at the incoming meteor.

Frantically, she swung her crimson aura-covered hand to strike the meteor.

“What?!”

But the giant, wrapped in the protective aura, slammed down with a single punch.

It was like divine retribution.

Thud.

The massive, overwhelming blow struck Sa Won-yang and the ground beneath her.

Then, an enormous explosion erupted.

KRAAAAAAAASH!

The deafening blast tore through the air, the earth overturned, the ground shook like an earthquake, and a storm-like pressure wave surged forward.

We had to crouch low just to keep from being knocked down.

“Ugh!”

“Is this… all you’ve got?”

After a moment, we lowered our hands from our faces and looked toward the blast site, whispering again.

“My god…”

Where Sa Won-yang and the giant had collided, a huge crater had formed, like a meteor impact.

At its center stood the giant alone, arms crossed calmly.

Sa Won-yang was nowhere to be seen.

But instinctively, we knew what had happened.

The bloodstains and flesh crushed beneath the giant’s feet were unmistakably hers.

Words failed us.

Sa Won-yang, who had seemed an insurmountable wall, was felled in a single move…

It was beyond belief—utterly deflating.

Cheong Myeong-jin, the head of Cheongseong, swallowed hard and muttered as he looked at the giant.

“Tcheol Sin Gwang-ma… Cheok-gang?”

That was him.

Cheok-gang, the Iron God Demon of the Blood Sect.

At the Jeonghyeol Council, he had nearly knocked down all the members of the Biryong Thirteen with sheer presence alone.

He was one of the Blood Sect’s Five Demons and a monster ranked among the Thirty-Six Stars of the World, just below the Fifteen Absolutes.

And now, he had crossed the front lines to appear here.

The middle-aged man who seemed to lead Dangmun, his face like polished jade, said grimly,

“Cheok-gang! You show up here too? So the Blood Sect finally reveals its true colors!”

According to Hwa Young-bin, this man was Dang Jeong-hu, the head of the Dang family and the Lone Rock Sovereign.

But Cheok-gang merely looked down on him with arrogant eyes, as if daring him to do something.

Then another voice answered—not Cheok-gang’s.

“A misunderstanding. This is a dispatch to capture traitors within our Blood Sect.”

From Cheok-gang’s shadow, a figure in black robes and a mask slowly emerged.

Even I was startled by his appearance.

Until now, I had sensed the presence of others—Cheongseong, Dangmun, even Cheok-gang.

But this newcomer’s presence was utterly undetectable.

Even now, watching him, it felt like a phantom.

A ghost with no presence at all.

Swallowing nervously, I asked, “Who is this…?”

Before Hwa Young-bin could answer, Dang Jeong-hu’s face twisted in shock as he shouted the name.

“Gu Yu-eum-ma, Ji Gi-eum?!”

Gu Yu-eum-ma, Ji Gi-eum?

Good heavens.

Ji Gi-eum was one of the Blood Sect’s Five Demons, like Cheok-gang.

He was also one of the world’s Three Deadly Assassins.

Two of the Blood Sect’s Thirty-Six Stars had appeared here.

Dang Jeong-hu shouted in fury,

“Cheok-gang and now Ji Gi-eum! Does the Blood Sect truly desire this Jeonghyeol Grand Tournament?!”

Ji Gi-eum bowed respectfully and replied,

“As I said, that is not the case. The Supreme received word from General Jegal Ji-gang of the Murim Alliance that traitors within our Blood Sect have crossed the front lines and are disturbing Murim. In great anger, he personally dispatched us to deal with them. This is coordinated with General Jegal Ji-gang, so you may verify it yourself.”

“…What?”

The mention of coordination with Jegal Ji-gang left the Cheongseong and Dangmun warriors exchanging uneasy glances.

“Coordinated with General Jegal?”

“With those terrible fiends?”

It seemed Jegal Ji-gang had a secret line of communication with the Blood Sect.

But something felt off.

‘He’s saying all this so openly? In front of so many people?’

As the warriors murmured, Ji Gi-eum bowed again politely and addressed the assembled lords.

“The Blood Demon Lord commanded that the traitor’s leader, Sa Won-yang, must be dealt with decisively. As for the others, we are to seek the righteous sects’ understanding before taking any action. Therefore, we intend to wipe out this Jeonghyeop faction entirely. What do you think? May we proceed to eliminate this place and all who belong to it?”

I couldn’t help but admire his polite inquiry.

Not simply because he spoke of cleansing the Jeonghyeop faction as if tidying up his own backyard.

Anyone could see that Cheokgang’s recent killing of Sa Won-yang was clearly the Blood Demon severing ties.

And indeed, that was the truth.

Yet, by offering the choice to the righteous sects, Jigium subtly conveyed that they were merely punishing a traitor—not cutting off their own tail.

Of course, such confidence could only come from knowing there was no risk of being exposed.

Dang Jeonghu glared at Jigium with a fierce look and spat out, “There’s no need for that. The rest will be handled by us, the warriors of Sichuan’s martial world.”

Jigium bowed respectfully and replied, “Understood. Then we shall take our leave.”

He then cast a dissatisfied glance at Cheokgang, who was surveying the righteous sect members, and said, “Surely you haven’t forgotten the Supreme One’s orders. Let us depart.”

Cheokgang flinched slightly at the mention of the Blood Demon but soon nodded and bowed slightly.

Then, like a blazing red meteor, he shot into the night sky.

Bang!

As his fierce leap drew everyone’s attention, Jigium quietly vanished without a trace.

He was truly like a ghost.

Once they were gone, Dang Jeonghu suddenly addressed Cheongmyeong Jin-in.

“Thank you for coming all this way, Cheongmyeong Jin-in. There’s a Dang family villa nearby—perhaps you’d like to rest there before we continue our discussion?”

Cheongmyeong Jin-in smiled kindly, as if he had been waiting for the offer.

“Hahaha, my disciples from Cheongseong have endured much for the safety of Sichuan’s martial world. How could I, as the head of the sect, rest now? It’s quite all right.”

He then looked toward Hwa Young-bin.

It seemed the ‘disciple of Cheongseong’ he referred to was Hwa Young-bin.

Dang Jeonghu gave a bitter smile and said, “Hmm, there are rumors throughout Sichuan’s martial world that Hwa Young-bin doesn’t see eye to eye with you, Cheongmyeong Jin-in. It’s a bit surprising to hear you emphasize your position as sect head so suddenly.”

“Hahaha! Rumors in the martial world are nothing new. Though our opinions may differ, our hearts for Cheongseong are the same, aren’t they?”

Despite their friendly smiles, the tension between the two was palpable.

It took me a moment to grasp the hidden meaning beneath their words.

“So, when Dang family said ‘thank you for coming all this way,’ they were really asserting their territorial claim over Jeonghyeop’s domain, since this area is their territory. And Cheongmyeong Jin-in bringing up Hwa Young-bin’s name was a reminder that it was a disciple of Cheongseong who exposed Jeonghyeop as part of the Blood Sect—thus staking their own claim.”

In other words, the moment Cheokgang and Jigium disappeared, both sides revealed their greed over Jeonghyeop’s territory.

All talk of the relationship between Jegal Jigang and the Blood Sect, the sacrifices of the Amipa disciples, and the kidnapped women were completely set aside.

A heavy weight settled in my chest.

I glanced at the warriors from Cheongseong and the Dang family.

They seemed to have brought roughly a hundred fighters, each side boasting at least thirty peak masters.

And their skill levels were astonishing.

The leaders on both sides, along with two or three others, radiated a presence comparable to Sa Won-yang of the Small Demon Army.

They truly were forces worthy of being pillars of the Old Great Sect and the Five Great Families.

But…

I recalled Cheokgang’s earlier appearance.

Alone, he had appeared before this massive gathering of warriors, looking down on them all with an effortless presence.

Though brief, the fear that flickered in the eyes of both sides’ fighters was unmistakable.

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“Hah, ha ha.”

I had thought that once I reached the pinnacle, I could mount a meaningful offensive against the Blood Sect…

But the more time passed, the more painfully clear it became how foolish that notion was.

The world seen from the level of a first-rate master and the world seen from the pinnacle were so vastly different.

I found myself asking, quietly, “Can I really change the future?”