NOVEL NEXT Chapter 100
Chapter 1: The Blood Cult’s Lair
Boom!
The largest hideout of the Blood Cult, situated in the Central Plains, was discovered deep within the jungles of Buning, Yunnan, based on the confessions of the captured Blood Cult members in Wuhan.
A little to the east lies Guangxi Province, and to the north, the important territories of Guizhou and Sichuan are visible.
Therefore, Martial Forest Leader Zhu Zhongxue acted swiftly.
The captured cultists revealed that aside from a small branch monitoring the Martial Forest Alliance in Wuhan, they had not yet expanded their influence significantly. This was the perfect opportunity.
If they delayed even slightly, the Blood Cult’s power would stretch uncontrollably across Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Guangxi.
The martial arts of the Blood Cult allowed practitioners to grow stronger with blood or poison.
This made it very appealing to the likes of the country bumpkins or some dark-hearted individuals.
Thirty years ago, during the Blood Cult Chaos, they had used similar tactics to swell their ranks rapidly with the most despicable scum.
Thus, Martial Forest Leader Zhu Zhongxue swiftly assembled a punitive force and headed for Buning.
As a result, over a thousand Zhuang villagers in a small jungle town were now under siege from the martial artists.
– Crackle.
With a furious expression, Zhu Zhongxue shouted at the gathered martial artists surrounding the burning village.
“I never expected these scoundrels would disguise themselves as Zhuang! They are a plague upon the Central Plains; not a single one is to be left alive!”
The reason for the raid on the Zhuang village, which is one of the minority ethnic groups in Yunnan, was that the Blood Cult had cunningly disguised themselves as Zhuang.
The houses they lived in and the clothes they wore all bore the appearance of the Zhuang.
“Yes, Chief! Let’s go! Not a single Blood Cult scoundrel must be spared!”
“Understood!”
At Zhu Zhongxue’s furious command, the tightly woven encirclement closed in, while the Qinglong Corps led the charge into the village.
Following them were disciples from various sects.
“Waaah! Kill them! Don’t let a single one of the Blood Cult scoundrels live!”
“Exterminate the Blood Cult scoundrels!”
“It’s an attack from the Martial Forest Alliance! Huuhk!”
“W-What’s going on? The Martial Forest Alliance is… Guh-huh!”
Inside the burning Zhuang village, a fierce battle broke out between the members of the Blood Cult and the righteous martial artists, ending in a one-sided massacre, severely detrimental to the members of the Blood Cult.
“My internal energy!”
“Those filthy righteous scum are using poison in secret! Stay vigilant!”
The Blood Cult members, bombarded by the sudden rain of poison, collapsed helplessly as if they had never practiced martial arts.
“Chief!”
Before the dying embers, Zhu Zhongxue crushed the neck of what appeared to be an Elder of the Blood Cult.
After wiping the blood from his forehead, he turned to the Captain of the Qinglong Corps who knelt before him.
It seemed the battle was coming to an end.
“Is everything settled?”
Just as Zhu Zhongxue gazed at the Captain of the Qinglong Corps, contemplating a report on the battle’s outcome, a rushed voice interrupted him.
“About half of them, so around five hundred have been captured or killed! B-but the rest have vanished without a trace!”
Clearly, the scouts who had been sent in advance reported that there were over a thousand Blood Cult members in the village, yet only about five hundred corpses were recovered.
With righteous martial artists and the Martial Forest Alliance’s warriors encircling the area, there should have been no opportunity for escape. Something was amiss.
“What!? Search for them! They can’t just disappear! There’s no way we can let them go!”
“Yes, Chief!”
Soon, the village where the battle had taken place was searched thoroughly by martial artists from the Martial Forest Alliance and disciples from various sects. After about an hour had passed, a small cave was discovered.
A small cave emerged from the dry well at the center of the village.
“A cave? Mobilize the pursuit team! We’ll send in those skilled in the immobilizing techniques and eye techniques!”
“Understood!”
However, once the pursuit team was deployed, a muddy brawl ensued in the narrow cave filled with uneven tunnels and chambers.
For three whole days, the battle continued between Blood Cult members and martial artists in the dark cave.
And at the end of this brutal confrontation, the pursuit team reached the end of the cave, only to find soldiers stationed at the border of the Great Yue Kingdom.
The long cave extended beyond the borders of the Great Yue Kingdom.
*
-Sizzle.
As I split open the rabbit’s belly and placed its innards on heated stones, the delicious sound echoed.
Spear Dragon Yang Seong-hu, breathing in the fragrant aroma of the rabbit meat, smiled delightfully.
“Hm. Not bad.”
To catch six rabbits would typically take a while of hunting, but today he effortlessly found a rabbit burrow nearby and secured six of them, which boosted his spirits.
With three already consumed and two more ready for breakfast tomorrow, he was even more pleased.
However, his good mood didn’t last long.
“Are you going to keep eating rabbits again? At this rate, your breath will smell like rabbit meat!”
Weed Dragon Peng Gyu-seong, who had gone to check for fruits nearby, grimaced upon seeing the roasting rabbit.
“Be thankful for what you have! How could you two support a search when you can’t even contribute anything!?”
In response to Weed Dragon’s words, Spear Dragon, who was roasting the rabbit, angrily turned his frustration toward Sword Phoenix, who was following behind.
Then, Sword Phoenix gave him a deadpan look.
“Why are you directing your anger at me? I’ve just been standing here!”
The reason for Spear Dragon’s outburst was due to the utter helplessness of both Weed Dragon and Sword Phoenix, who had come along to look for the traces of the Blood Cult that had disappeared into the Great Yue Kingdom.
Both were completely useless, having no skills to hunt, wash clothes, start a fire, or even track animals that could be of help.
When they’d roamed as friends in the Central Plains, none of this had been evident.
Unlike him, who had learned many things through family ties within the military, Weed Dragon was of the Peng Clan, known for their interest in martial arts exclusively. The same goes for Sword Phoenix, a high-ranking disciple from the Jin Cheng Sect, where disciples let the masters do everything.
It turned out his friends were quite spoiled.
Still, he could somewhat understand Weed Dragon Peng Gyu-seong’s situation.
After all, the Peng Clan was from Hebei, and it was a widely known fact they had no interest beyond martial skill.
Honestly, there was little expectation from them in other areas.
But he felt even more frustrated with Sword Phoenix, a disciple of the Jin Cheng Sect.
Given that the Jin Cheng Sect was based in the jungles of Yunnan, he had expected them to know a thing or two about the wilderness, but they didn’t know anything at all.
“I heard there are too many bugs in the jungle, so I won’t go in there!”
Sigh.
Spear Dragon Yang Seong-hu thought it was better to just not say anything anymore, flipping the rabbit as he grumbled.
-Sizzle.
The reason he chose not to lecture further was that just the other day, Weed Dragon and Sword Phoenix had said the exact same thing when he casually brought it up.
“A person who has mastered a skill only needs to excel in that one. They don’t have time to learn other things! Hahaha.”
“That’s right. A swordsman only needs to be good with the sword.”
Truly, their heads seemed filled only with swords and skills.
As Spear Dragon shook his head at the memories of the ridiculous answers he heard just days before, he flipped the meat and asked Sword Phoenix.
“By the way, how are the other groups doing? I think we should visit the rendezvous point.”
They had arrived in the Great Yue Kingdom under the command of the Martial Forest Leader, and were organized into twelve groups of three.
As they had already been in the Great Yue Kingdom for over a fortnight, he suggested they check on the progress of the other groups at the rendezvous point.
“Indeed, it’s probably time for that.”
“Yes, since it’s been fifteen days, they may have found some traces already.”
“Hm… It’s quite possible they have already located some.”
Agreeing to follow up at the rendezvous they had set for the next day, both Sword Phoenix and Weed Dragon nodded.
“Then, let’s enjoy a hearty meal today and check the rendezvous point tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
“Absolutely.”
After this simple meeting before their meal, while checking on the roasting rabbit, a sudden clear voice called out from somewhere.
“Excuse me!”
-Swoosh.
“W-Who goes there!?”
Spear Dragon was startled by the sudden voice and jumped up, gripping a spear set against the cave wall, scanning the area.
Then, upon confirming the sound came from above, his eyes widened at the sight that descended from the ceiling.
A gigantic…
A gigantic…
“O-Oh no, a Centipede?”
Seated on top of the colossal Centipede, a Junior Hero he recognized appeared, descending slowly.
“T-That junior hero is!?”
“No way! How did the junior hero get here!?”
Just as Spear Dragon, along with Sword Phoenix and Weed Dragon, shouted in shock at the sudden appearance of the ethereal Junior Hero, she descended gracefully on the giant blue Centipede.
“Yang Seong-hu, I saved you twice, yet you still have the habit of drawing your spear at any moment.”
Her remark caught the attention of Poison Flower, who was sitting behind her, eyes wide as she stared at Spear Dragon.
Intuitively, he quickly hid the spear behind his back.
He had resolved his feelings, but he still didn’t want to be hated.
*
[What? Do you know her?]
[Yes, she is someone I know.]
[Then, are those people from the Five Poisons Sect hiding in the Martial Forest!?]
Gathered outside the underground passage of the Five Poisons Sect, it seemed Older Sister Seol suspected that they were the cultists lurking in the Martial Forest.
However, those individuals were the heirs of the righteous sects.
Moreover, they were the most esteemed disciples in the Martial Forest.
There’s no way they could be!
I shook my head and replied to Older Sister Seol’s questioning.
It seemed they were randomly gathered here for some undisclosed reason.
[No. She is a friend of Hua Eun.]
[Not friend, it’s Wei So-ryong.]
Before my words even ended, Hua Eun quickly rebutted, rejecting the title of friend.
Lately, having followed Older Sister Seol and me around to take care of children had made her a bit more talkative, yet her true nature remained the same.
As I smiled at the shocking remark that would have hurt Spear Dragon’s feelings, I turned to Older Sister Seol and Hua Eun.
[Older Sister, with so many people here, it seems this isn’t a dangerous place. Let’s go see if we can grab the meat we wanted to eat.]
[Get some meat?]
[Yes, since I’ve saved him twice, they won’t be able to refuse.]
[So-ryong, saved you?]
[It’s a thing men have among themselves.]
When Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol were astonished to hear I had saved Spear Dragon’s life, I shouted down below.
“Excuse me!”
-Swoosh.
“W-Who goes there!?”
As Spear Dragon’s voice rang out and both Sword Phoenix and Weed Dragon expressed their surprise, Hua Eun and Chao descended from above to speak to Spear Dragon.
“Yang Seong-hu, I saved you twice, yet you still have the habit of drawing your spear at any moment.”
This made Spear Dragon gasp and hastily hide the spear behind his back.
All eyes turned towards Spear Dragon.
*
“By the way, Junior Hero. Now that you are with the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, should I call you Junior Hero or simply So-ryong now?”
“Just call me So-ryong.”
“Understood. So-ryong. But about what you mentioned earlier regarding saving Yang Seong-hu’s life, what does that mean?”
After finishing long introductions about Chao and Yo-hwa, as we sat around the campfire enjoying rabbit meat, Sword Phoenix asked about my earlier remark.
With a smile directed at Spear Dragon, I replied, “It’s just something between men. Isn’t that right, Yang Seong-hu?”
“Y-Yes, of course, So-ryong.”
With a pale face, Spear Dragon nodded vigorously.
He thought he could milk this for a while, pulling apart a piece of rabbit leg and shoving it into his mouth.
‘Why does this rabbit meat taste so good? Is it because Yang Seong-hu cooked it?’
It is said that the more you steal something right before it enters someone’s mouth, the tastier it is, and this roasted rabbit was indeed the best he had ever tasted.
-Slurrrp.
As he inhaled one rabbit leg and tossed the remaining bone into the campfire, a voice suddenly came from beside him.
“You eat loudly. You should take some of this too.”
“No, Brother Gyu-seong should have something to eat too.”
Weed Dragon thrust two rabbit hind legs in front of me, insisting, but I waved my hands in refusal.
“Ah! Just watching you eat fills me up. Come on, don’t hold back.”
It was only the second time meeting him, and their first was just a brief introduction, but the reason Weed Dragon treated me so generously was clear.
‘Turns out, he is Young Young’s older brother.’
When I was introduced to Hua Eun by the Martial Forest Alliance, I had merely thought we shared the same surname, not realizing he was Young Young’s elder brother.
In the excitement of rushing off to find food for the Lizard tribe earlier, Hua Eun hadn’t had the chance to mention it. But upon recognizing us earlier, he had happily approached me.
“Who could this be! Is it Junior Hero from before!? I heard from my father. Thank you for saving my little sister! I never thought I would meet my benefactor here!”
“Y-Yes?”
“You mean Young Young, right?”
“Oh! Young Young! So you’re the Peng Clan Head’s son?”
“Yes, that’s right, I’m the eldest son of the Peng Clan.”
It was evident that the Peng Clan Head had mentioned that I was taking care of Young Young when he returned home.
“Since you’ve taken great care of Young Young, even forming a bond like sworn siblings, then I should be calling you brother!”
“Y-Yes?”
Though I was somewhat hesitant to call him brother, considering he had a kind demeanor and was not a bandit, I ultimately accepted his goodwill.
Thinking back on the martial arts ability he displayed when I met the Peng Clan Head, it was clear the Peng family was a natural tank.
After the raid on the Flying Heavenly Snake, I realized that I needed to keep a list of tanks if I wanted to capture other venomous beasts.
Accepting the rabbit leg he handed me, I said, “Thank you, Brother. Oh, and soon Mandok God and our adoptive father will arrive, and we are also searching for traces of the Five Poisons Sect, so we can move together, Brother.”
“Oh, right! If we search for the Five Poisons Sect, we might end up finding the Blood Cult as well. That sounds good!”
Things were shaping up to be mutually beneficial.
However, even after two days, neither my adoptive father nor Mandok God had shown up.