Chapter 273

Baek Li-jung stood on the mountain peak looking down below with both hands stained with blood. Though he couldn’t know the detailed situation, he could see the formation collapsing and Mount Emei’s nuns departing.

“Those Mount Emei bastards…”

Baek Li-jung also confirmed that Jin Ja-gang and the group of Evil Sect members were continuing to descend westward.

After pondering briefly, Baek Li-jung wiped his hands on torn cloth and muttered.

“I’ll just have to kill them all.”

Baek Li-jung spoke in a voice filled with murderous intent and then leaped down toward the foot of the mountain.

Where Baek Li-jung had been standing, there was one corpse so mangled that its original appearance was unrecognizable. Shattered shield pieces were scattered in all directions, allowing only a guess at his identity.

* * *

Mang Ryo giggled while watching the mountain situation, embedded in the cart.

It was clear that the flags indicating the formation’s bearings were in disarray and not working properly.

“Looks like Mount Emei has withdrawn.”

This meant Mount Emei had gotten what they wanted.

Then it was time for Mang Ryo to move as well.

Mang Ryo spoke to the warrior monitoring him.

“Hey. I need to pee.”

The warrior looked at Mang Ryo as if asking what he wanted him to do about it.

“As you can see, my prosthetic legs are broken and my arms are dislocated, so I can’t do anything. Should I just wet myself like this? You just need to hold my shoulders and help me up, then hold it for me.”

“You want me to help an old man pee?”

“Then just hold my hand. I’ll take care of the rest myself.”

The warrior irritatedly grabbed Mang Ryo’s limp hand.

“Hold tight.”

“Got it. But what are you planning to do with this…”

At that moment, Mang Ryo forcefully pulled his shoulder.

Pop!

His dislocated arm snapped back into place. The warrior was startled. Mang Ryo grabbed the warrior who was trying to let go and step back, climbed on top of his head. He wrapped both thighs around his neck and twisted.

Crack.

The neck bones turned and the warrior’s body convulsed.

“Thanks. You’re a really good friend. It’s hard to find such kind friends in today’s world.”

Mang Ryo pulled his other arm to snap it back into place. Then he stood up, supporting himself with his broken prosthetic leg on the ground.

“Come on, I’m busy.”

He had told Dan Ryeong-gyeong not to come this way to avoid encountering Jin Ja-gang. He couldn’t meet Jin Ja-gang yet. Every meeting has its timing, even if it’s within the same day.

* * *

Zhuge Ming was flustered.

“Damn it!”

The formation’s operation had become a mess. Jin Ja-gang had scattered poison on one side, causing considerable damage to the personnel there, and most severely, Mount Emei’s withdrawal had caused the greatest damage.

“I never thought they’d openly raise a rebellion…!”

This was probably one of the few times in Zhuge family history that the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation had faced such an unfavorable situation.

However, no matter how much damage they had suffered, the actual number of members hadn’t decreased significantly, so they still had reserves. Zhuge Ming dismantled the formation and concentrated westward as much as possible.

He intended to reconstruct the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation once more.

And this time, he would personally take charge of Kun Palace.

But before Zhuge Ming could even leave the command post, someone short blocked his path. No, it wasn’t that he was short, but Mang Ryo was walking on his knees because his prosthetic legs were broken.

“Thanks to you, I got to watch well. I came because it seems to be over now… What? Is there still more left to do? If so, let me watch a bit more.”

Zhuge Ming’s lips twisted.

“I spared a worthless life and now you don’t know your place.”

“Hey, how can you say worthless? I’m someone who almost killed the Martial Alliance Leader.”

Zhuge Ming’s face hardened as he asked.

“What’s the reason for doing this?”

“To isolate Sichuan’s martial world?”

“What?”

“I thought I’d lend a hand in reorganizing the Nine Provinces and Six Heavens.”

“You think you can do that?”

Mang Ryo gave a hollow laugh.

“Huh. How disappointing. If you think the world revolves around a few people like you, you’re mistaken. Without people moving underneath, would your desires be fulfilled? People like me need to gather and cultivate the fields one by one for anything to happen.”

“Even dog shit has its uses?”

“You still don’t understand. What happens if you don’t have people to cook for you and serve you? You’d have to hunt, cook, and prepare meals yourself. You’d spend all day hunting, tending crops, and cooking, with no time to devise strategies or schemes. When you take a dump, does the chamber pot walk away and clean itself? You’d have to mix it all into fertilizer and bury it yourself. Without subordinates, even taking a dump becomes work.”

“Comparing me to the work those lowly people do. This is getting increasingly unpleasant.”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying. Without those lowly people doing that lowly work, you’d have to do it all yourself.”

Mang Ryo clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Tsk tsk tsk. This is the problem with those who grew up pampered. They think the world runs for free.”

“Your tongue is long. So you think you can do something to me?”

“Oh dear. Such a stupid fellow commanding the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation, no wonder the formation failed. Do you think I appeared to fight you in this condition?”

At that moment, Zhuge Ming felt tremendous killing intent and turned around.

Mount Emei’s Demon Monk Myowol was tearing through the barracks and entering. She was emanating streams of killing intent and his blade was already dripping with blood, leaving no doubt about her intentions.

“Demon Monk! What the hell is Mount Emei thinking!”

When Zhuge Ming showed his back, Mang Ryo immediately rushed forward and thrust with both palms. Zhuge Ming turned his waist to counter with a palm strike. Myowol also rushed from the opposite side.

“Amitabha. Patron Zhuge, please achieve peaceful nirvana. I have someone to kill, so please die as quickly as possible.”

Zhuge Ming’s hands became frantic.

“How dare you bastards!”

Zhuge Ming staggered after taking a blow to his back from Mang Ryo. After landing one hit, Mang Ryo stopped his hands as if feeling refreshed. Then he gathered up the flags that Zhuge Ming had dropped.

“Now, are these the famous Zhuge family’s Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation command flags?”

“You bastard!”

Zhuge Ming shouted, but couldn’t stop Mang Ryo. Myowol’s sword was fierce and sharp with no openings. Zhuge Ming barely drew his folding fan to face her.

Meanwhile, Mang Ryo went outside with the command flags and began waving them.

“Is this how you do it? Oh my, I can see things moving. This is interesting.”

“Stop that immediately!”

“You mind your own business. Don’t worry about others’ affairs.”

Mang Ryo chuckled while randomly picking up flags and waving them. Having watched what Zhuge Ming did from behind, he didn’t know the operation method but his actions looked roughly similar.

“You bastard!”

Zhuge Ming showed extreme anger but couldn’t shake off Myo Wol.

“Kekeke!”

Mang Ryo excitedly waved whatever command flags he pleased.

* * *

The formation became a mess.

Warriors bumped into each other while moving and sometimes broke off in completely wrong directions. Everything became tangled and mixed up in chaos.

Tremendous confusion came to the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation.

“Something’s wrong!”

“What’s happening!”

Zhuge Son-gi realized something had happened to Zhuge Ming. Because all forces had been committed to the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation, there were no significant troops at the command barracks.

The sect leaders were also bewildered by the lack of proper command.

But they couldn’t immediately return to the command post either. That would accelerate the collapse of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation that was already disintegrating.

“If we can’t stop their escape in broad daylight, we’ll become the laughingstock of the martial world!”

The Sichuan sect leaders shouted.

Thirteen sects with over five hundred people had gathered, plus the Zhuge family’s Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation. If they couldn’t catch about twenty Evil Sect members, Sichuan’s martial world’s pride would fall to the ground.

“We must find a way!”

Zhuge Son-gi gritted his teeth.

“If it comes to this…”

There was only one method left.

“Sect leaders, please follow me!”

Zhuge Son-gi ran westward with the remaining ten sect leaders. He intended to buy time for the formation to be reorganized even if it meant engaging the Evil Sect members in frontal combat.

Zhuge Son-gi quickly moved with the sect leaders and blocked the Evil Sect members’ path.

Even if they were small and medium sects, as sect leaders they possessed skills that couldn’t be ignored. When they blocked the Evil Sect members, their escape speed slowed.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong, Gam Chung, and several Evil Sect members stepped forward to break through. But in the meantime, Zhuge Son-gi took new command.

“Ignore the formation commands and everyone gather here!”

Warriors who heard Zhuge Son-gi’s voice began swarming.

If they mixed together in chaotic battle, naturally the Sichuan sects’ side would suffer greater casualties. But it was better than missing them while the formation was a mess. Sichuan warriors and sect leaders rushed forward in frustration.

“Wahhhhh!”

Clang! Clang clang!

“Ahhhh!”

Swords and spears flew everywhere as everyone mixed together in chaos. For the Evil Sect members too, their goal was to escape safely, not to bury their bones here. It became a murky fight that neither side wanted.

In such a mix, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t use poison carelessly either. Soul Seizing Thread was also sealed as it could injure allies.

But then.

Suddenly, a group of masked bare-handed fighters appeared from somewhere and intervened in the battle.

Though they numbered only five or six, each one’s skill was very outstanding.

The masked figures subdued Sichuan warriors with exquisite Golden Thread Hand techniques and incapacitated them by pressing vital points. Even so, they weren’t using lethal techniques.

They didn’t even fall behind when fighting sect leaders one-on-one or two-on-one.

“Who are you people!”

“We are…”

The masked figures scolded each other.

“Hey, didn’t the elders repeatedly warn you to watch your mouth?”

“Sorry, Immeasurable Longevity…”

“You stupid fellow! How could the Heavenly Venerable send someone like you…”

“Oh no, Four Hundred.”

“Huh?”

Hearing the masked figures’ speech patterns, the sect leaders were horrified.

“Qingcheng Sect!”

The masked figures looked troubled.

“Huh. Is lying really this difficult?”

The Sichuan sect leaders and warriors were also in a bind. Though Qingcheng Sect had been branded as disloyal forces for opposing the Martial Alliance, they were comrades who had been together in Sichuan for a long time.

Sichuan’s martial world, isolated in basin-like terrain, had their own independent sense of belonging. Moreover, Qingcheng Sect was a respected Taoist sect. If Sichuan’s martial world had any feelings toward Qingcheng Sect, it was favorable, not hostile at all.

The sect leaders, flustered, withdrew their warriors.

“How can the Qingcheng Sect’s Taoists protect such Evil Sect rabble!”

One of the masked figures stepped forward and said.

“Since the situation has come to this, please understand. We have no intention of using lethal techniques, so if you could step back, we’d be grateful.”

“Those people killed our brothers and made fools of Sichuan’s martial world. What would we look like if we withdrew here!”

“But if it weren’t for the Martial Alliance in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to fight each other. They just needed to go their way, and we just needed to watch.”

When the sect leaders hesitated, Zhuge Son-gi stepped forward.

“We are all members of the Martial Alliance with the duty to capture rebel elements! Since all three powers of Sichuan have refused the Martial Alliance’s will, they will pay the appropriate price! However, those of you who cooperate with us now will receive appropriate rewards…”

His words had the opposite effect.

The weight that the Three Powers of Sichuan (Tang family, Mount Emei, Qingcheng Sect) carried in Sichuan was different from how outsiders saw it. If all Three Powers of Sichuan had withdrawn, the remaining small and medium sects felt the same way.

The sect leaders gradually withdrew. Zhuge Son-gi panicked.

“Hey there!”