“Hah! Hah!”
How long had he been running?
He had fled in such a frenzy that he had lost all sense of distance and time. He had memorized nearly the entirety of Guangdong Province’s geography, yet in his desperation, he could no longer even tell where he was.
“Cough!”
He did not have a shred of strength left.
Yayul Jeok collapsed beside a stream and vomited blood onto the ground.
The blood was dark crimson. A nauseating stench mingled with its thick metallic reek.
This...!
Yayul Jeok’s eyes trembled.
HSSSSS!
Pale smoke rose from the blood-soaked earth.
There was poison mixed into his blood.
It was fortunate that he had protected his blood vessels with Beast King Evil Qi. Had his control slipped even slightly, the poison would have spread throughout his body and killed him.
Especially a poison like this.
Deathflower Venom!
Made from a rare poisonous herb found only in western Guangdong, Deathflower Venom was so deadly that even calling it a lethal poison felt inadequate.
Even Yayul Jeok, who possessed considerable resistance to most poisons, could not handle it easily. The dagger that had pierced his chest had been coated with it.
That bastard...!
The one saving grace was that the poison had not been perfectly refined.
There were several secret arts he had never taught his disciple after becoming the Yin God, and the method of refining Deathflower Venom was one of them.
To manufacture and use a poison he had never been taught—the boy truly was extraordinary.
WHOOSH!
Yayul Jeok withdrew his Beast King Evil Qi and immediately raised his Supreme Yin God Qi.
Against poison, the Yin God’s qi was far safer than the Beast King’s True Qi.
“Ugh!”
Sharp pain erupted throughout his blood vessels.
It meant that his Supreme Yin God Qi was driving out the Deathflower Venom.
HSSSSS!
Dark green smoke rose from Yayul Jeok’s body.
After an unknown amount of time—
“Haaah!”
At last, Yayul Jeok breathed a sigh of relief.
He had expelled every trace of the Deathflower Venom.
But the sacrifice had been enormous. To tear the poison out, he had been forced to extract it together with his own Supreme Yin God Qi, losing thirty percent of what he had possessed.
Regrettable, but unavoidable.
Had he not drawn it out along with his Inner Qi, he would have died without ever neutralizing it.
“Damn it!”
BOOM!
Yayul Jeok’s fist sank into the ground.
I failed to kill them.
That alone was infuriating, but worse still, he had nearly died for the first time in many years.
Had he not fled, his death would have been certain. He had seen the terrifying resolve in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes—the absolute refusal to let him escape.
Yayul Jeok’s gaze deepened.
Was it because he had buried his Beast King Evil Qi and raised his Supreme Yin God Qi?
His thoughts seemed colder and clearer than before.
He knew far too much about us.
When Soh Bang first told him that Yeon Hojeong had perfectly countered the Blood-Drinking Palm, he had only half believed her.
Not anymore.
Yeon Hojeong had identified Beast King Evil Qi the instant it was revealed. He had even countered every technique of the Beast King’s unarmed combat art with defenses that moved half a beat ahead.
Advancing to a higher realm in the middle of a duel to the death was astonishing enough.
Far more alarming was how thoroughly Yeon Hojeong understood their martial arts.
Could there be an infiltrator within the Cult...?!
Yayul Jeok shook his head without realizing it.
The possibility was effectively nonexistent.
If the Cult had been infiltrated, the Martial Alliance would have known long ago that the Perverse Lust Cult had set its sights on the Central Plains. Judging from the Alliance’s response thus far, that clearly was not the case.
Then what is it? Who in the hell is he? How does he know so much about us?
His head spun.
After thinking for some time, Yayul Jeok shook his head again.
“No. This is not the time to dwell on that.”
What mattered was that he had been defeated—and that his main base might have fallen as well.
He needed to confirm that first.
If the enemy truly had seized his headquarters, the situation would become extraordinarily complicated.
He may only have said it to shake me. Even if he was telling the truth, there is a strong chance they entered the trap I prepared and were annihilated.
Yayul Jeok took a small pill from inside his robes.
It was nowhere near as potent as a Carnal Crystal Pill, but it was highly effective at stabilizing internal injuries and restoring Inner Qi.
He swallowed the spiritual pill and circulated his qi for half a day.
He knew better than to let urgency drive him onward before treating his injuries. Restoring his body first would ultimately be faster.
The next day.
Yayul Jeok entered a town near Longmen in Guangdong and immediately summoned an informant.
SWISH.
In a dark alley, a hooded young man knelt before him.
“I pay my respects to the Night Lord.”
Yayul Jeok’s gaze deepened.
He detected the faint tremor in the young man’s voice.
The man was an assassin trained to suppress every flicker of emotion. For even he to react this way was proof that something grave had happened.
“Tell me everything you know about what occurred over the last two days.”
“Yes.”
A short while later—
Yayul Jeok’s face twisted as he listened to the young man’s report.
“...The Night Citadel has fallen into their hands?”
“Yes.”
“How? A thousand men were stationed there. They were the finest of the elite. Are you telling me they were all killed?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“Ninety percent of the force descended from the mountain to search for you, Night Lord.”
Yayul Jeok stared at him in disbelief.
“They came down to search for me? Who gave such an order?!”
“...You did, Night Lord.”
“Wh-what?”
“A request for reinforcements bearing your authority entered our intelligence network. Your exact location was unknown, but the request came from the northwest, so every assassin except the minimum defensive force was deployed.”
“That is absurd! I never requested reinforcements—!”
Yayul Jeok abruptly fell silent.
Information disruption!
If a Martial Alliance field-force unit had entered Guangdong, an intelligence contingent would naturally have been dispatched to support it.
The Beggars’ Union!
No one but the Beggars’ Union could have manipulated their intelligence network convincingly enough to fool his assassins.
The young man continued.
“However, contact was lost midway, so the nine hundred assassins are currently awaiting orders three hundred li away.”
They would not be able to deceive his intelligence network twice.
But whether it was the Beggars’ Union or anyone else, the enemy had only needed to deceive them once.
They walked in without spilling a drop of blood. They drew nearly every soldier away from the base, then seized it with ease...
Yayul Jeok let out a hollow laugh.
They played me completely.
He had ruled Guangdong Province as its king for well over a decade.
Throughout those years, he had steadily consolidated his power while weakening the Orthodox Path.
He had never imagined a day like this would come.
If the main base is in their hands... then they avoided the traps as well.
They knew everything.
The enemy had seen through every move his side would make. Otherwise, they could never have executed an operation in which every piece fell so perfectly into place.
It was him.
The man who came to Yayul Jeok’s mind was Yeon Hojeong.
The mastermind behind this was not one of the Martial Alliance’s senior officials or strategists. The man commanding the operation in the field saw through everything.
A chill swept across Yayul Jeok’s entire body.
“What kind of monster is he...?!”
“Pardon?”
The young man questioned him, but Yayul Jeok was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice.
He is completely insane! It is absurd enough that someone his age possesses martial arts of that level. But he also read every movement his enemy would make?
It was terrifying.
At this point, Yeon Hojeong’s mind and instincts frightened him even more than his martial prowess.
No matter how powerful a warrior became, strength alone would only take him as far as the position of vanguard commander.
But a man with keen insight, brilliant strategy, and the ability to read the flow of events could aspire to something far greater.
Yayul Jeok’s vision seemed to darken.
If he truly foresaw this entire situation and prepared accordingly, then he deserves to be called a god of war.
He had heard that, on rare occasions, geniuses who surpassed all imagination appeared in the world.
But this was too much.
How could a young man not yet thirty possess such ability?
What should I do?
If the main base had been captured, then every spiritual medicine and intelligence document stored there had likely been seized.
Moreover, the Night Citadel raised special messenger hawks capable of maintaining regular contact with the Perverse Lust Cult.
There were other ways to contact the Cult, even without those hawks, but the information would travel far too slowly.
Yayul Jeok bit his lip.
There is no other choice. I have to infiltrate the citadel. I must report the entire situation to the Cult.
He would not escape responsibility for allowing matters to deteriorate this far.
He might even be sentenced to death.
But his own death meant little.
At this rate, he would leave an indelible stain on the history of the Perverse Lust Cult.
One day... They will search every corner of the Night Citadel, but a single day is not enough to uncover every secret passage.
Sima Hyeon suddenly came to mind.
If he joined forces with the Martial Alliance, he may have revealed the passages. But he was critically wounded too. He will not regain consciousness within a day or two.
It was a race against time.
He had to infiltrate the Night Citadel and inform the Perverse Lust Cult as soon as possible.
Yayul Jeok looked at the young man.
“Is there anything else of note?”
“There is.”
Yayul Jeok had expected him to say no.
His heart seemed to plummet.
“What is it? What else happened?”
“Nothing has happened yet. However, several suspicious individuals have entered Guangdong.”
“Who?”
“People affiliated with Shaolin.”
“...!”
Yayul Jeok’s eyes flashed.
Since the Martial Alliance had dispatched a field force, there was nothing strange about Shaolin monks accompanying it.
Even so, this was not something he could dismiss.
The name of Shaolin carried that much weight.
“One of the Shaolin monks headed toward the Night Citadel. He appeared to be traveling with the field force.”
“I see.”
“The other man went to Foshan. We were able to confirm his identity.”
“Who is he?”
“Lee Cheolgyeong, Gate Master of the Vajra Fist Gate.”
Lee Cheolgyeong was a genius fist master who, despite being a lay disciple of Shaolin, had been entrusted with secret arts from the main temple.
Of course, he was not someone Yayul Jeok considered worthy of much concern.
He might be a genius, but he was no monster like Yeon Hojeong.
The important point was not Lee Cheolgyeong.
It was Foshan.
Foshan... Could it be?
Yayul Jeok’s eyes trembled faintly.
Are they trying to summon those unidentified masters?!
He had learned less than half a year ago that eminent Buddhist masters were gathered in Foshan.
He had reported the information to the Perverse Lust Cult.
However, because some of them were said to have come from Shaolin, he had never dared approach them carelessly. A single mistake could have led to catastrophe.
The name of Shaolin was that fearsome.
Even Yayul Jeok, who worshiped the power of the Perverse Lust Cult, could not provoke it lightly.
But now that the situation had developed this far, the circumstances had changed.
“You said my elite forces are waiting three hundred li from here?”
“Yes.”
“Summon them all. Every last one.”
“Where should I direct them?”
“To the Night Citadel. We will reclaim the king’s stolen land.”
The young man’s eyes gleamed.
“I obey the Night Lord’s command.”
“Tell them to move with the utmost secrecy. The enemy must not discover them. Contact the Dark Bird Band separately as well. Order them to locate any intelligence networks believed to belong to the enemy and cripple them completely.”
“Understood.”
SWISH.
The young man vanished like mist.
Yayul Jeok growled under his breath.
“They caught me once, but there will not be a second time. Since matters have come to this, I will give them a war.”
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