Chapter 370
Who wouldn't know that Wei Yan-ho was strong?
If you had ears, and if you were someone who lived in the martial world, there was no way you wouldn't know of Wei Yan-ho's strength.
Just going to any inn, you'd hear tales about Wei Yan-ho until your ears hurt, and just stepping out to the market, the stories you'd hear would be about Wei Yan-ho—how could anyone not know of Wei Yan-ho's strength?
Especially someone like Jang-il, who had closely followed by Wei Yan-ho's side, could never be unaware of Wei Yan-ho's strength.
But…
Jang-il couldn't help but think at this very moment.
Perhaps he, and everyone else, had known nothing at all about Wei Yan-ho's true strength.
Everyone knew that Wei Yan-ho was strong.
But was there anyone here who properly understood just how strong he was, and what he could accomplish with that strength?
Yes, there might be someone.
But Jang-il had to admit that at least he himself had not properly understood Wei Yan-ho's strength.
He had simply thought there would be some vast difference, but the actual gap between him and Wei Yan-ho that he witnessed with his own eyes was beyond what could even be expressed as 'vast.' It made him wonder if that was even human.
Jang-il looked around with a dumbfounded expression.
The terrain had changed.
This had been a main road with lush vegetation growing thickly on both sides. They had set up camp on one side of that road. If they had been ordinary people, they would have chosen a spot deeper in to avoid the threat of bandits or to stay out of sight of passersby, but since Wei Yan-ho's group were martial artists, there was no need for such precautions, so they had set up right beside the main road.
But this place could no longer be called a main road.
As if a volcano had erupted beneath this spot, all the surrounding trees had been uprooted, and what had been called a road could no longer maintain its form as a road.
How could such a thing happen from a clash between two people?
He too was someone who walked the path of martial arts. No matter how much the Beggar's Sect focused on information, as a martial artist, he couldn't help but dream of reaching the pinnacle.
As someone who walked the same martial path, witnessing a clash between those who had reached a realm he couldn't even dream of, let alone reach, left a deep impression on him.
'Unreasonable.'
It seemed like something he could never catch up to. Even if he trained his entire life, could he truly reach that absolute realm where they now stood?
Jang-il was the Small Beggar, a promising young talent of the martial world and someone who carried the future of the Beggar's Sect on his shoulders. Even to someone like him, Wei Yan-ho and the Mad Blood Demon felt like beings he could never reach.
'How did it turn out?'
Reality returned to him.
This wasn't something happening in a dream. This was reality unfolding before his very eyes. And in that reality, Wei Yan-ho was blocking the Mad Blood Demon.
The fact that, even for just a moment, instead of supporting such a Wei Yan-ho, he had felt anger at that unreasonable strength made Jang-il ashamed of himself.
Whether Wei Yan-ho intended it or not, he was fighting to protect them, yet watching that sight, he had harbored the emotion of 'jealousy.'
Self-loathing washed over him. He felt like falling forward with a sword in his mouth right then and there.
The lingering traces of energy that had been swirling around like white mist finally dispersed completely, and at last, the figures of Wei Yan-ho and the Mad Blood Demon were revealed.
'Damn.'
Jang-il flinched as he looked at Wei Yan-ho.
Both were standing on their own feet, firmly planted on the ground. But there was a stark difference in their appearances.
Unlike the Mad Blood Demon, who looked no different from the beginning except for his disheveled hair, Wei Yan-ho's entire body was stained with blood.
The superiority was perfectly clear to anyone who looked.
'So this is what it means to be a Bishop of the Demonic Cult.'
Jang-il was deeply shocked by that sight.
To him, Wei Yan-ho was an incomprehensible being. While his mind understood that Wei Yan-ho couldn't accomplish everything, whenever something occurred that they couldn't handle, he would think, 'But still, if it's Wei Yan-ho, perhaps… '
That such a Wei Yan-ho was being pushed back to a degree clearly visible to the eye was not easily acceptable. Of course, he knew that just being able to cross swords with a Bishop of the Demonic Cult at Wei Yan-ho's age was remarkable. Even knowing this, the fact that he was shocked showed how much Jang-il had unknowingly come to trust Wei Yan-ho.
"Huu…"
Wei Yan-ho let out a deep breath.
The others also looked at Wei Yan-ho's wounds with disbelieving eyes. Jin Ye-ran looked ready to rush to Wei Yan-ho at any moment. Wei San-ho was gripping Jin Ye-ran's wrist tightly.
"Calm yourself."
"But!"
"The moment you interfere, Yan-ho will be in danger."
Jin Ye-ran was too wise to ignore Wei San-ho's advice. Realizing that if she rushed in, Wei Yan-ho would have one more burden to protect, Jin Ye-ran could neither act nor stay still.
Creak.
And Jin Ye-ran wasn't the only one taking Wei Yan-ho's situation seriously. Rather, Wei San-ho's face was even more hardened. Seeing blood flowing from Wei San-ho's tightly clenched lips, Peng Dao-ji nervously licked his own lips.
"Shouldn't we help him?"
"Wait."
"But…"
Wei San-ho spoke in a voice that seemed to drip blood.
"My desire to help Yan-ho is the greatest. But rushing in now will only be a hindrance."
Wei San-ho was feeling it.
How foolish the words he had said to Jang-il were. Yes, perhaps someday he might surpass Wei Yan-ho. But until that someday came, how heavy a burden would Wei Yan-ho have to carry alone?
Promising the future was nothing but empty words—it was the same as avoiding responsibility for the present moment.
If they could just get through this moment, would everything be resolved?
The Demonic Cult had already revealed its demonic nature. An unavoidable age of chaos would continue for some time. Was it truly proper to make Wei Yan-ho alone shoulder the heavy burden of that chaotic age?
Wei San-ho's gaze, filled with complex emotions, reached Wei Yan-ho. Seeing Wei Yan-ho bleeding, his heart boiled with rage.
But there was someone watching him with an even more complex gaze.
It was the Mad Blood Demon himself.
The Mad Blood Demon looked at Wei Yan-ho with a strange expression and opened his mouth.
"I cannot understand."
"…"
"Just how can you be this strong? How?"
"Ha…"
Wei Yan-ho looked at the Mad Blood Demon as if he found the question absurd and shouted irritably.
"Is this old man mocking someone! I nearly broke my back just now!"
"Heh… hehe."
The Mad Blood Demon was feeling extreme futility.
It had been years of dedicating everything to martial arts.
While other Bishops spent time trying to understand the will of the Sacred Fire, the Mad Blood Demon was obsessed solely with strength itself.
He had mocked other Bishops who studied doctrine to accept the Sacred Fire.
What would change by understanding the Sacred Fire? In the end, to spread and widely proclaim its meaning, power was necessary.
The reason they had been persecuted for so long and branded as a demonic cult wasn't because their doctrine was wrong. It was because they lacked power. So what need was there to obsess over doctrine?
Therefore, he had cultivated power.
As long as he had power, it wouldn't matter if the doctrine was currently flawed. Doctrine could be corrected later. No matter how righteous a doctrine one preached, if that doctrine wasn't accepted, it was meaningless.
But…
That power he had cultivated with such desperate resolve was now being made to look shabby before this small martial artist before his eyes.
Wei Yan-ho's martial prowess was overwhelming. It was absolutely not a level that someone of his age should possess. Even now it was one thing, but if just a few more years passed like this, it would be natural to consider him superior—to that degree.
'I thought Gwang Mu-ryang's words were exaggerated… '
Rather, Gwang Mu-ryang had failed to adequately explain Wei Yan-ho's strength.
The current Wei Yan-ho was twice as strong as the level Gwang Mu-ryang had described. Considering his age, he was at a level that wouldn't be insufficient even if designated as the cult's special-grade dangerous individual.
If just a few years passed, he would become the greatest obstacle to spreading the new cult's doctrine.
"Truly remarkable."
"What is?"
"I have never seen anyone who achieved martial prowess like yours at your age. No, there was one. Just one…"
The Mad Blood Demon muttered quietly.
"But he… he was someone who had been prepared. Without receiving that person's grace, he could not have reached that realm on his own. This is incomprehensible, incomprehensible…"
The Mad Blood Demon shook his head.
"Anyway, thanks to you, one thing has become certain."
"Yes?"
"If I leave you alone, you will become the cult's greatest obstacle. You will become the Righteous Alliance's dog and block the cult."
"No, there seems to be a big misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?"
Wei Yan-ho said with a serious expression.
"I have absolutely no desire to get involved in the fight between you people and the Righteous Alliance. This isn't some situation where the shrimp's back gets broken in a whale fight, but if I get caught up in it, it's obvious I won't die peacefully, so why would I be crazy enough to get involved?"
"Didn't you already stand on the Righteous Alliance's side and block Gwang Mu-ryang!"
"No! When you people came charging to kill me, was I supposed to just quietly die! You should have done proper friend-or-foe identification from the start!"
"Enough of this nonsense."
Paang!
In an instant, the Mad Blood Demon lightly threw a punch, and sharp wind pressure arose right beside Wei Yan-ho's face.
Trickle.
The skin from beside his nose to below his ear split lengthily, and a stream of blood flowed down along his jaw.
"Even if you don't intend to oppose us, nothing will change. Those who do not accept the Sacred Fire are ultimately nothing but our enemies."
"And you wonder why people call you a demonic cult?"
"It doesn't matter. Wouldn't it be fine if all those in the world who call the new cult a demonic cult just disappeared?"
Wei Yan-ho didn't answer and quietly sighed.
'They're really completely insane.'
He understood why they kept calling them the Demonic Cult.
He had simply thought they were called the Demonic Cult because their methods were too cruel, but that was only a secondary issue. That way of thinking—not considering those who weren't believers as human—was probably the reason they were called the Demonic Cult.
'Then in the end, it's not a matter of whether I oppose them or not… '
To avoid their demonic grasp, the only option was to convert to the Demonic Cult. If not that, then the Righteous Alliance would have to defeat the Demonic Cult…
"Eohyu, really."
Wei Yan-ho sighed deeply and looked up at the sky. He just wanted to laze around and live a lounging life, so why wouldn't people just leave him alone?
"Old man."
"Mm?"
"Have you heard this saying? When cornered, even a mouse will bite a cat?"
"Would a cat die from being bitten by a mouse?"
"Of course not. But…"
Wei Yan-ho swung his sword from top to bottom.
From far away, dark storm clouds were slowly approaching them.
"I'm not exactly a mouse, you know."
"Keulkeulkeulkeul."
Seeing Wei Yan-ho emanating a completely different killing intent than before, the Mad Blood Demon laughed with apparent delight.
"Yes. That's how his child should be. Now, show me. Show me the ability you possess."
Wei Yan-ho silently raised his sword and aimed it at the Mad Blood Demon.