The Terrifying Cheon-geum Domain (2)

The vast lake, Cheonghae Lake, was actually wider than any lake in the Central Plains. Neither Dongting Lake nor Poyang Lake could match the size of Cheonghae Lake. Cheonghae Province itself had been named after this Cheonghae Lake.

Cheonghae Lake was unusually clear, with a brilliant blue light. At a glance, it looked like a blue sea, just as its name suggested. But Cheonghae Lake was clearly a beautiful lake filled with clear, rippling water.

Even so, the reason Cheonghae Lake’s fame was overshadowed by the Five Great Lakes of the Central Plains was precisely because the lake was located in Cheonghae Province. It could be said to be for a reason similar to why Cheonghae Province had been ignored by the people of the Central Plains. In other words, it was the frontier.

“Wow!”

What astonished Ma-jil was actually nothing special. It was because of the vast grain-producing region that existed between Cheonghae and Seon-yeong. The wheat and barley, nearly fully grown and awaiting harvest, formed golden waves.

“You’re telling me to set all this on fire? This precious food?”

Ma-jil had spent his childhood starving. He had something like a longing for food.

“If we do not do it, the war will be prolonged. And we will not know when we can save the boss…….”

At Cheong Yeon’s words, Ma-jil flinched and watched Je So-yeon’s expression. The one most sensitive whenever Neung Je-gang was mentioned was Je So-yeon.

Sure enough, a chilling energy flowed from Je So-yeon. The Ice-White Cold Soul Art was a martial art that could be called the natural opposite of the Ihwa True Qi Ma-jil practiced.

“Who said I wouldn’t do it? I’m just saying it’s a waste. Think about the people who farmed this. The grain they worked hard to grow all year will turn to ashes overnight. How sad would that be? And the harvest is so close too.”

Though Ma-jil grumbled, he created fire with Ihwa Art. He made it into a very small ball and threw it into the middle of the field.

Whoosh, boom!

The flying fireball did not fall to the ground, but exploded in midair. Its fragments scattered in all directions, and flames rose all at once.

It was a very technical arson. Once he raised the fire that way, the field burned almost simultaneously.

“Damn it! Let’s go.”

Ma-jil shouted to the three people watching. No matter how he thought about it, treating food this way hurt his heart.

They began circling Cheonghae Lake, setting fire to every field awaiting harvest that they saw. But the Necromancer Cult was not filled only with fools. Their simple movements were bound to have their route identified.

And their actions were deliberate, planned by Cheong Yeon and Go So-jeong. They were intentionally acting as bait to turn the eyes of the Necromancer Cult experts toward themselves. That way, the First Special Mission Team could succeed in its mission of setting fire to the food warehouses with fewer losses.

Whoosh, boom!

Ma-jil once again threw a fireball and set one field ablaze. The barley there was almost fully ripe, to the point that it could be harvested now.

The savory smell of barley being cooked by fire quickly spread in all directions.

“There they are!”

Seeing the fire, a group of people approached. They were not holding farming tools, but swords and blades. They were warriors of the Necromancer Cult.

Clang.

Go So-jeong drew two short swords. Cheong Yeon had not drawn his sword yet. Je So-yeon, for some reason, abruptly stepped forward in front of the approaching enemies.

“So-yeon!”

Go So-jeong, who had grown close to her during that time, shouted in surprise. She did not know how strong Je So-yeon’s martial skill was.

Whooooosh.

Even Go So-jeong, who had learned the same kind of yin-cold art, felt cold from the chilling wind. She looked at Je So-yeon in surprise. She had not known she was this strong.

Je So-yeon drew up her inner power. She bit her lip hard.

She was a physician. She had only ever saved people, and had never killed as she was doing now. Her hands trembled. But she endured all of it for the sake of the missing Neung Je-gang.

‘If I cannot kill them, I cannot see Senior Brother again.’

It was as if she were hypnotizing herself. She repeated those words to herself enough times.

Whoooong.

Was it because of that feeling? A ruthless attack that did not take the level of the approaching men into consideration poured out.

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

The men approaching were struck down by an invisible, chilling current. It was a qi art that could not be blocked by the swords and blades they held.

Tremble, tremble.

The ones who had died were other people, yet Je So-yeon’s legs trembled. For the first time, she had killed people.

‘I will never forget today for the rest of my life.’

Thinking that, she finally sank down. At a glance, tears glimmered in her eyes.

“So-yeon!”

Go So-jeong looked at her with pity. She knew now. This was Je So-yeon’s first killing.

She had once been like that too. A day that was endlessly sad and painful.

But just as she now felt no particular emotion about killing, Je So-yeon would become that way too. The moment would come when she became used to it, and used to it, until in the end she became numb.

As she thought of the process Je So-yeon would go through from now on, she felt even more sorry for her. Perhaps the martial world was heartless for this reason. Because it made normal people numb to the enormous sin called killing.

“Stand up quickly. More enemies will gather after seeing the fire. There is no time to sit there.”

Cheong Yeon said coldly.

Go So-jeong glared at Cheong Yeon.

“How can you say that when this is her first kill? Do you not feel pity for her?”

“Pity? If you think that way, are the dead not even more pitiful? The killer is not in a position to grieve. That is affectation and hypocrisy.”

Cheong Yeon was cold. He had seen countless people die. For the killer to grieve before the dead was hypocrisy.

Go So-jeong closed her mouth. Certainly, it was only normal for the dead to be more pitiful.

But at some point, she herself had stopped caring about the dead.

As Je So-yeon listened to Cheong Yeon’s words, she put strength into her legs and stood up. The corpses of those who had died by her hand lay right in front of her. To grieve over her first killing in front of those corpses certainly seemed like hypocrisy.

At the very least, Je So-yeon did not want to become that kind of person.

But Cheong Yeon’s words were not over yet.

“They are Necromancer Cultists who turned two million innocent people into puppets. If you are going to grieve after killing such people, it would be better to go back as you are. At the very least, I think killing evil is natural. The boss probably thinks the same as me. If you cannot understand that, you are not qualified to stand beside the boss.”

There were always people like that. People who killed someone trying to kill them, then grieved over that person’s death. People who saw someone committing evil, yet because they hated killing, pretended not to know even though they had power.

Because they were kind? Because their hearts were pure?

People who comforted themselves like that and received comfort from themselves.

If that was not hypocrisy, then what was?

At Cheong Yeon’s words, Je So-yeon’s body trembled.

That was right. She had forgotten it. Those she killed had committed wicked deeds that could not be forgiven even in death. She found her own behavior ridiculous. She had nothing to say in response.

“I understand. Thank you. I will not forget those words.”

Cheong Yeon’s words were cold and harsh, but they helped her. The person she liked was indeed such a person. If she could not understand that, she had no right to like Neung Je-gang.

But there was one more person here who felt something prickle in her chest. It was Go So-jeong. Something troublesome had happened.

‘He’s cool!’

She was deeply impressed by Cheong Yeon’s stern and cold words and behavior. She had already been trying to stop paying attention to Neung Je-gang, so she needed someone new. But the faces she saw every day in the Martial Alliance had not moved her heart.

Yet today, she learned for the first time that there were people whose way of speaking could be cool.

Moreover, although Cheong Yeon was a little older, his face was not ugly. She felt she could more or less live with him for a lifetime.

Cheong Yeon would never know that a lifelong nuisance was now beside him, smiling in satisfaction.

After Je So-yeon recovered her spirit, their actions became even faster and more covert. Since they had been discovered once, there was no law saying they would not be discovered again. The more often they moved covertly and set fires, the easier it would become for the other side.

The Necromancer Cult’s camp facing off against the Martial Alliance.

Bang.

“What? You say Central Plains bastards have entered the Hagok Plain?”

The one striking the table hard enough to break it was none other than Deung Myeong.

Deung Myeong grew serious. He could not help being angry. The problem was that if they could not harvest grain from the Hagok Plain, almost the only grain-producing region in Cheonghae Province, they had no future.

The food they had bought in advance would now run out in three months. They had planned to supplement it by harvesting within that time, but the Martial Alliance bastards had acted first.

Moreover, what was even more serious was not the Necromancer Cultists. It was that all the natives of Cheonghae Province would have far too little food to eat. The people who would become subjects of the new empire might leave Cheonghae Province because they had nothing to eat.

“Soul Hunter!”

As always, a Soul Hunter in a black mask appeared.

“Take a few men and track down and kill the ones setting the fires.”

“Understood.”

The Soul Hunter disappeared again in an instant.

“If the Soul Hunters leave, our guard will weaken. Tell everyone to guard thoroughly, even if they do not sleep. Until the Soul Hunters deal with them and return.”

“Yes.”

The man who had reported left Deung Myeong’s tent.

“But how did they break through the guard and enter? Was there some place our eyes did not reach? There was no particular contact from the Cheon-geum Domain either…….”

Deung Myeong furrowed his brow as if something displeased him.

“In any case, we only need to endure until Grandfather returns. Then we can drive the Central Plains bastards out of this land.”

The reason the Necromancer Cult was not advancing was because they did not covet the lands of the Central Plains. They merely wished to establish a new empire here in Cheonghae.

The Ming Empire was too enormous, so there was no possibility of fighting and winning immediately. Deung Gak and Kunlun’s plan was to first fully take Cheonghae and wait for Ming to weaken.

To do that, they had to endure the attacks of the Central Plains martial world. For that, they needed experts.

In Tianshan of Xinjiang, there were many experts who had left the Central Plains martial world and were living in seclusion. Most of them were Turpan people, Tibetans, or Mongols. They were people who had been ostracized by the Central Plains martial world and had entered distant Tianshan.

Deung Gak had decided to persuade such people. The condition for persuasion was that they would create an Outer Regions martial world that could oppose the Central Plains martial world. He was confident that almost every expert would break seclusion. That was because there were not many experts who had chosen seclusion because they liked it.

“But why is Father not starting the matter? There is no need to wait any longer.”

Deung Myeong suddenly thought of Deung Hyeon. It was strange. If Deung Hyeon had started the matter according to plan, the Martial Alliance would have fallen into chaos. But there was no news of where Deung Hyeon was or what he was doing.