The elder stealthily stared daggers at Dok-goson’g back, who was far away. The elder made a dark smile.
‘Ku ku ku bastard. It is your world right now, but let us wait and see.’
The elder, who was walking silently, swept his gaze over the SWG before he left soundlessly left towards the back. Although, they were nominally known as the Bae-sect’s most elite troop, they only looked like expendable items to him.
This was understandable since they were children kidnapped from various parts of Zhongyuan.
Their origins were varied. There were children from the Gwan-moon family, a lowly butcher and even a farmer. Of course, there were most definitely the children of the Righteous sect included.
If one had talent then they were indiscriminately kidnapped and put into the training grounds. The Bae-sect didn’t care about the cost of losing them. It was why most didn’t even know that many children had died when they couldn’t withstand the training.
‘They are a disposable item. It’s the same for Dok-gosong…..’
He pretended to be subservient to him on the outside, but he already had a lord he served. He had received orders from his lord, and he had carried out all kinds of mission.
Someone approached him after he moved to the back of the line. He was a middle aged warrior with a very stubborn face, and thick sideburns. His identity was Courageous Iron Demon Spirit Zhong-li-ryong, who was SWG’s Patriarch(TLN:couldn’t come up with a better term). The SWG was mostly made out of mid-20 to early 30 year olds, and he was the only person in his 40s. He walked side by side with the elder, and he started a sound transfer(TLN:i guess its somekind of technique where only they could hear each other) with him.
-You have called me? Elder.
Of course, the elder used the sound transfer to reply.
-You have done well. The sect leader won’t forget about Patriarch Zhong-li’s pain.
-Is everything quite satisfactory?
The elder glanced at Dok-gosong’s back, who was in front of the line, before he continued to speak. There was only one person with the ability to hear their sound transfer. It was Dok-gosong. Therefore, he had to make sufficient preparations.
-What is the current situation?
-I haven’t seen anything peculiar. Of course, he fought like a crazy tiger against the Righteous sect, but he hasn’t revealed any demonic aura.
-Is that right? That’s strange. There should have been at least one fit caused by the demonic aura….
The elder tilted his head as if this was strange. According to the internal documents, the creator of the Emperor’s Blood Demon Art started showing his first fits after his 3rd year of learning it. Therefore, Dok-gosong should start to have his first fit, but he had gone against expectation by not showing any symptoms.
-It must vary by person. All right. Take your time and observe him carefully, Patriarch. He will most definitely have a fit.
-I understand.
After slightly nodding his head, Zhong-li-ryong distanced himself from the side of the Elder without hesitation. This was something that required secrecy, so they were very conscious about the eyes on them.
After he turned his head, Zhong-li-ryong had a solemn look on his face. He gave a skeptical response, and it seemed as if he was agonizing over something. The elder didn’t detect this, so the elder’s face relaxed as if he was satisfied.
‘The Emperor’s Blood Demon Art is an overpowering demonic art that has a large side effect. It was so bad that Dong-bang-ryun killed all his wives and children, and no one could even recognize him 200 years ago….’
Suddenly, he thought of the person who had orchestrated all of this. As he thought about his lord, his body unconsciously trembled. Even though he had pledged his loyalty to his lord, fear would unconsciously wash over him sometimes.
‘He a really frightening person. From one to ten, he is able to arrange everything. Can he even be seen as a person?’
Still, he had the ability to produce carrots to people who follow him. (TLN: figure of speech i.e. carrot on a stick) This was why the elder didn’t have any reason to distance himself(TLN: from sah-joon-hwan).
‘It won’t be long before the lesser sect leader will start to have a fit. Once the symptoms of the fit starts to show then the SWG has to be moved close to the Murimang. After the first fit, it’ll take him exactly two days to become a majin. None of the SWG members will be able to survive it. Also, the Murimang bastards will receive an enormous damage from him. Ku-hahaha.’
The elder continued to bleed with amusement inside. (TLN: its worded like that, i guess he is being smug)
“Commander.”
Dok-gosong, who was steering the horse without thinking anything, turned his head. The vice commander Gwak-sang was making a somewhat puzzled expression.
“What is it?”
Gwak-sang hesitated for a moment before speaking in the lowest volume possible.
“Isn’t something a bit strange?”
“What are you talking about?”
Gwak-sang glanced around his surrounding before lowering his voice a bit more.
“I mean this plan. No, I don’t mean just this operation, but all the recent operations.”
“………..”
“To tell you the truth, I feel as if the operations the SWG have been carrying out is beyond our capacity. We succeeded this ambush, because commander took out the top three leaders at once. Normally, it is an operation that we would have had a hard time completing. The 320 SWG hit a location where 1000 elite Righteous sect warriors were present. No matter who sees it, it was a long-shot.”
Dok-gosong smiled and answered Gwak-sang’s words.
“However, didn’t we succeed?”
“Yet we are constantly losing men recently. Of course, our numbers are never replenished. Today we have lost 59 people. If we continue on this path….”
Of course, Gwaksang excluded the severely injured. They won’t be able to lift a sword again…..
“I’m suspicious of the sect leader’s intentions. I can only surmise that he is trying to lessen the SWG’s strength.”
Truthfully, Gwak-sang’s remarks was going overboard. Normally, the members of the Demon sect’s troops only followed orders, and they couldn’t give their opinions. To say it again, if ordered one had to kill oneself without any hesitation. The command structure was that strict. If someone like Gwak-sang overstepped their bounds, and gave his opinion then he deserved to be killed immediately.
However, Dok-gosong didn’t care about that. He understood that Gwak-sang was just worried about him, so he only smiled. His face was so hideous that it didn’t look like a smile. It looked like he was grimacing.
“You are worrying about it too much. Sect leader Sah-joonhwan isn’t someone who would do that.” (TLN: ughh you idiot)
“However.”
“Don’t worry about it… I’m sure we will be able to achieve the Mado-world.”(TLN: basically unite the country under their rule)
Gwak-sang had no choice, but to shut his mouth. Dok-gosong’s belief in Sah-joonhwan was that firm. Gwak-sang once again looked at Dok-gosong’s hideous face, while speaking slowly.
In Gwak-sang’s mind, he suddenly thought of the time when Dok-gosong’ was dispatched to be their leader. At that time, the warriors had finished the hellish training, and they all spoke at least one word about Dok-gosong’s face. They were forged through a process where it was the survival of the fittest. So they didn’t want to acknowledge a leader that didn’t have any skills, and this caused their mood to surge.
“Why did they bring someone with a dirty face to be our leader?”
“How much skill does he have?”
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd ranked in the 500 warriors were beaten in succession, and they accepted Dok-gosong as their leader. Afterwards, Dok-gosong became their sky.(TLN: figure of speech, someone untouchable/they admire)
However, there was an entirely different reason which caused their hearts to be be grasped by Dok-gosong….. He started thinking about that time, and Gwak-sang smiled slightly.
‘I didn’t understand it at that time. He swept through the battle field like a wild beast, but he treated us like blood brothers.’
None of SWG warriors argued over Dok-gosong’s appearance. Even thought his face was hideous, his face was more trustworthy, and affectionate than anyone else. Gwak-san shook his head while smiling bitterly.
‘I’m worried about our sect leader’s intentions. I hope nothing bad will happen…..’
Other than that, he wasn’t concerned with anything else. This was exactly why the SWG was condemned as an evil group. Of course, they became that way when they followed Sah-joonhwan’s orders, but the Murim’s evaluation of them was entirely different from the truth. The SWG was portrayed to be a group where unbearable evil men had gathered.
(TLN: basically since they don’t care about their reputation, they didn’t stop their bad reputation from growing)
-The SWG and their leader, Surging Sky Blood Demon Dok-gosong, are devilish murders who only enjoy blood and carnage.
-In the places where they swept through, not even the children survived. Even the dogs and chicken didn’t survive.
Gwak-sang was very worried about the judgements made by the Murim. Of course, Sah-joonhwan may have spread it to instill fear in the enemies, but it seemed a bit excessive at times.
Of course, they had almost never killed women or children. Sometimes it was unavoidable to kill some, but they had immediately pulled out once the operation was complete. They had left for the next destination, and the clean up was taken care by the warriors dispatched from the headquarters. Still those rumors were spreading….
(TLN: So all the bad thing attributed to the SWG was done by the warriors from the headquarters after they had left)
It was quite the opposite for Sah-joonhwan from the SWG. The Murim judged him quite favorably. Even though, he was the sect leader of the Bae-sect, who was fighting against the Righteous sect, he was judged to be a just and honorable person.
Although Gwaksang was merely one warrior in the SWG, he couldn’t help but be suspicious of Sah-joonhwan’s intent.
‘Well, I guess it’ll be ok? Our commander is unrivaled in this world…..’
Gwak-sang forcibly hid his worry, and he drove his horse. Soon their destination of the Sacheon base came into view.
“Good job.”
The elder bowed his head deeply when he saw the lord he served. After separating himself from the SWG at the Sacheon base, he had headed towards the headquarters. It took him 2 days to arrive at the Thousand mountain.
In front of him, a very pure looking middle-aged man was smiling at him. He had an endlessly benevolent face, but there was a character colder than a snake behind it. The elder was well aware of this.
The person he followed most definitely provided the carrot(TLN: carrot on a stick/incentive) to those who followed him, but there was only a ghastly death for those who didn’t. He had understood this after he had pledged his loyalty to him(TLN: sahjoonhwan). While thinking about this truth, the elder gave a courteous response and he observed all the etiquettes.
“I’ve returned. Sect leader.”
Normally, he would have to prostrate himself to prove his loyalty, but he didn’t have to. One had to prostrate in front of various underlings toward the Bae-sect’s ultimate being, but it would be illogical to do it right now. (TLN:prostrate meaning on your knees, both arms fully extended and both palms touching the ground, and face down)
On the surface, he was merely an elder that maintained the affairs of the Bae-sect for his his lord. Therefore, he could only prostrate himself when his lord has the Bae-sect within his palms. Of course, those days weren’t that far off.
(TLN: Basically, he didn’t prostrate himself b/c Sah-joonhwan hasn’t entirely taken hold of the sect yet.)
“Let us enter.”
His lord was smiling endlessly, and he suggested they enter inside. The elder followed him without saying anything. Once they entered inside, they avoided attention and they started a secret conversation. The elder gave a report on his investigation.
“According to Zhong-li-ryong’s words, the bastard hasn’t had a fit caused by the Demonic aura. Of course, he gets drunk on bloodlust in battle, and he ruthlessly slaughters everyone.”
“Of course. It is just as his name says, Surging Sky Blood Demon…..”
While listening to the report, Sah-joonhwan smiled.Truthfully, he had a guess as to why Dok-gosong didn’t have his fit yet.
