Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon

Woon-seong’s appearance was overwhelming.

It was a spectacular sight hard to express in words.

Was it because of this imposing scene? The Orthodox soldiers surrounding the Cult of the Heavenly Demon began to surrender one by one. 

What sect leaders could stop them?

All of the instigating sect leaders had already lost their lives to the swords Woon-seong had dropped. 

There was no one left to stop them. 

So they surrendered. 

Of course, nothing would have been different even if they continued to surround the demonic practitioners. 

What difference would it make if they were all slaughtered by the demonic practitioners who were no longer affected by the Nine Heavens Devouring Array?

Those who chose to surrender would have survived. 

Some martial artists were uncooperative and fought. Most of them were immediately killed.

And what about Woon-seong, who had caused this situation?

Woon-seong’s condition was not normal.

Since his energy had been consumed at such a rapid pace, he was feeling dizzy. He staggered when his feet landed on the ground. 

There was suddenly someone supporting him. 

“Are you all right?”

It was Baek Woon-ji, who had been hovering around Woon-seong since the days of the Charred Dragon Unit. 

“Yes.”

Woon-seong nodded and grabbed onto Baek Woon-ji’s shoulders as he rose to his feet. Soon, he stood without her help. 

The situation had changed. 

But there was no guarantee that those who surrendered would remain docile. 

In order for them to stay put, he needed to remain strong. 

The Strategist approached Woon-seong and handed over a small pill.

“What is this? ”

“A medicine.”

Woon-seong accepted the pill. It was about the size of a thumbnail and had a sweet smell. 

It smells like an Ayu Kulpa Pill, but it’s not that. 

In a situation like this, the Demonic Army would not be carrying precious medicinal pills with them. 

“A qi replenishing elixir.”

Woon-seong uncovered its identity and nodded.

Of course, it was not the kind of elixir that would increase his strength, but it could rapidly replenish some of his spent energy. 

As he poured the medicine down his throat,  the sweet smell of incense filled his body. 

After seeing Woon-seong swallow the medicine, the Strategist said, “I will take care of the situation and report to you. Please return to the barracks.”

Woon-seong nodded. 

The Strategist then turned to Baek Woon-ji, who was standing next to Woon-seong. “Help him back to camp.”

“Yes!”

Baek Woon-ji smiled brightly and nodded. 

The barracks were in the center of the camp, set up so that they could see the Qaidam Basin. 

Woon-seong returned to the barracks and laid down in the resting area prepared for him. 

I recovered a bit thanks to the elixir Sang Gwan-chuk gave me, but that was only first aid. 

The immense power Woon-seong had inherited from Chun Hwi could not be recovered from a mere elixir. 

It’s hard. 

Woon-seong slowly closed his eyes. He felt someone bringing a warm blanket and covering him with it. 

He could tell who it was without looking. 

He wasn’t intending to sleep, but he felt Baek Woon-ji’s intentions and murmured with his eyes closed, “Thank you.”

Woon-seong had his eyes closed so he did not know…

When Baek Woon-ji heard Woon-seong’s thankful words, her face turned scarlet…

Instead of closing his eyes to sleep, Woon-seong breathed in. 

Slowly and deeply.

He breathed in and out, sucking and releasing air.

It seemed like not all of the air that went in was breathed out, as if some of it remained deep inside of his chest.

From there, he accumulated internal energy.

From there, his energy and health recovered.

Woon-seong immediately began cultivating.

Then, with that energy, he began filling his half-empty dantian.

The energy breathed in soon filled the emptiness.

“Phew.”

The emptiness slowly began to disappear.

As he breathed in and out, Sang Gwan-chuk, who had been cleaning up the situation outside, entered Woon-seong’s tent.

As he stepped inside, Woon-seong opened eyes.

Although he had restored some of his strength during this short period, he was still tired.

You’re still a human being at Semi-Divinity. 

The fatigued Woon-seong suddenly felt that way and smiled helplessly.

Sang Gwan-chuk bowed. “I will report the situation.”

Woon-seong nodded and Sang Gwan-chuk began to speak.

“First, I will report the damage to our Cult. The damage was not great, but there were about 200 casualties. Excluding those who are merely injured, there were about 30 deaths.”

As he said, it was minor damage for wartime.

That was only possible thanks to Woon-seong, who drove the battle to a quick end. What if they had fought to the death with the sects there?

I don’t know, but there would be at least double the casualties. It would have been worse without me.

But Woon-seong did not speak about that. Instead, he asked something else. 

“What are you going to do about the deaths? ”

“I plan to pay a certain amount of consolation to their families at the Cult. I’m going to transfer their bodies back first, and then we will have funerals after the war.”

“It is fortunate we were able to recover the bodies,” nodded Woon-seong. 

War was terrible because a person living today could become a corpse tomorrow; the person who you ate with today could disappear the next. 

And often bodies couldn’t even be properly recovered. 

That was war.

But the damage was less than he had expected and they were able to recover the bodies of the fallen. 

We were really fortunate. 

“And what about those who surrendered?”

“The number of those who surrendered is about 1,700. The 200 who attempted to resist were all decapitated.”

“What will you do with the prisoners? ”

“I plan to gather them all in one place for surveillance. If the Leader commands it, the process will take place immediately.”

Woon-seong took a moment to think, as he was wondering what to do. 

Sang Gwan-chuk solved his problem. 

“I think it would be best if we keep them alive and let them return to their hometowns and sects.”

Woon-seong was contemplating something along this line. But when Sang Gwan-chuk had a similar idea, he was curious. 

“Your thoughts are similar to mine. Why does the Strategist think so?”

Sang Gwan-chuk smiled.

He guessed why Woon-seong thought the same. 

“Don’t you want to set an example? ”

It was as he said.

Woon-seong intended to set the precedent that those who did not resist the Demonic Cult would be spared, and they could return alive. 

Absolute obedience to the Demonic Cult was not necessary. 

All they had to do was not bare your fangs or draw your sword. 

A precedent of bloodless surrender.

And what it meant to return alive was huge.

If many disciples were able to return from the battlefield alive, a sect would be able to survive the war and continue into the next generation. 

Unlike the Spear Master Sect.

Woon-seong closed his eyes.

When he thought of Nok Yu-on and the Spear Master Sect, he would still feel terribly upset. 

However, Woon-seong knew that it was not these lowly foot soldiers whom his anger targeted. 

It was those insane sect leaders who said that disciples had to be sacrificed for their cause. 

And worse than them.

The Martial Alliance. 

They were the ones who needed to be eviscerated. 

It was not necessary for others to experience the grief of sect destruction, like the Spear Master Sect had suffered.

“I feel the same way as Leader. This is an opportunity to set an example.”

Woon-seong nodded. 

It was then that Sang Gwan-chuk added something. 

“But you can’t just send them back.”

Woon-seong lifted his brows. “What do you mean?”

Sang Gwan-chuk looked at him, smiling as if he had anticipated the question. 

“If you just let them go like this, you can set an example, but it will not raise the dignity of the Cult. So instead of just letting them live, we should receive what we deserve — an exchange that establishes the majesty of our Cult.”

Woon-seong tilted his head, asking, “Are you asking for money?”

If Sang Gwan-chuk was talking about gold or goods, the Cult was involved with trade along the Silk Road and their riches piled high as a mountain. 

Do we need the gold? Woon-seong’s expression darkened. 

Sang Gwan-chuk shook his head. 

“Why don’t we do this…”

* * *

“You’ll let me live, but you want me to leave a seal on the silk?”

There was a long line of martial artists. 

One man standing in the middle of the line muttered as he looked ahead of him. 

They were all survivors of Qaidam Basin from the battle in Qinghai.

The reason they were all standing in line was because of a command from the Demonic Cult, to which they had surrendered to not long ago. 

The Cult would spare those who surrendered. 

The Cult was not vicious enough to behead enemies who did not wish to fight. 

Instead, one thing had to be left behind.

The only thing to leave behind was a seal — put some ink onto your palm and press it into the silk and you are good to go.

The strange request made all of the prisoners confused.

But they did as told. 

If they could return alive with just a handprint, then this extra step didn’t matter. 

Loyalty to the former sect leaders?

There was no such thing.

How can we consider those who ordered us to shoot arrows at our fellow members as sect leaders?

They were all glad that their friends and colleagues they spent time with had survived, even if their leaders had died. 

They were also thankful that they were able to return home and back to their sects. 

That’s why they were willing to use their handprints as a seal. 

Some felt uncomfortable.

But when the others left a seal, they did too. 

And a few days later, a new flag flew above the Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s army.

It was a flag with hundreds of handprints on it.

This flag accompanied the Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s procession, spreading its witnesses throughout the whole world. 

And of course, there were also those who were sensitive to the flag.