Episode 440
“Please take care of Cheonan while I am gone.”
“yes. “Don’t worry and have a nice trip.”
The adjutant, Hwa Dae-rang, waved his hand to see me off.
During his visit to Haenam Island, he would be in charge of all the major and minor affairs of the department.
It would have been fine to leave it to Sima Yun, another lieutenant, but he was currently in the Sima family with Seonhye Dojang.
It was to greet the messenger of the Cheonghyeoldomun (淸血刀門) who would visit the family.
Suddenly, a conversation I had with a blood red sword when I visited Cheonghyeoldomun in the past came to mind.
[Then, what would it be like for the Blue Blood Clan to become a Baekdo Clan?]
[what?]
[Why are you so surprised? It’s not entirely unprecedented.]
The work to transform Cheonghyeoltumun and Sima Family into the two major martial powers of Guizhou was progressing smoothly.
From the beginning, the Cheonghyeoldomun was a sect with enough power to become the loser of a region, and the Sima family had Sima Yun, the best martial arts expert in the world.
Soon, there would be upheaval in Gwiju’s power structure.
It was unfortunate for the Baekdo clans and families who were previously active in Gwiju, but there was no reason for me to care about their situation.
[under! This person is really no good!]
[In the first place, wasn’t tomorrow the day we were supposed to enter the ruins? You say you will ignore the alliance’s decision and play as you please, monopolizing the treasures? There is a level of shamelessness!]
Although it had already been several years, I remembered it clearly.
Those with vested interests in Gwiju who scolded them and told them to hand over their bundles to rescue those who had fallen into the water.
‘The golden jade leaf of the Yun family, the head of the Mu family, and the elder of Soolmun.’
No one stopped them as they chased Simaun, saying things that didn’t even sound like words.
I say this every time, but I was a person with a bad personality.
Even if we forget grace, we never forget resentment.
I was the one who had to repay double what had been done to relieve my anger.
“Then, let’s leave.”
As we boarded the carriage, the Haenam Sect disciple sitting in the driver’s seat waved the reins.
The carriage wheels began to roll with a rattling noise.
There were a total of three members who would go to Haenam Island with me.
Namgung-geum, Cheon Ga-ryeong, Tang Seo-yeon.
Chen Jia-ling accompanied Hao Wen when necessary, and Tang Seo-yeon simply wanted to accompany him, so he offered to accompany him.
We could have increased the number of people, but we decided not to.
There was a need to minimize the number of companions so as not to attract attention.
The fact that the Flame Soul Sword fell into a demonic state is a secret to the public.
Then why are you taking Namgung Geum with you?
It was a simple reason.
This was because I had in mind the story I heard from Jeolhaegeom two days ago.
Jeolhaegeom said that it was highly likely that the reason Yeomhongeom fell into mental illness was because of the death of Geomwang, whom he regarded as a teacher.
Namgung Geum, who came from the Namgung family and watched the end of the Sword King, might be able to persuade Yeomhongeom to jump into the battlefield.
‘Yeomhongeom is the highest leader of the Haenam faction and a person of the same rank as Munju. If a person like that moves, other Haenam believers won’t be able to stay still.’
The reason I went to a distant island and tried to save the Flame Soul Sword was to demand active participation from the Haenam faction in the war.
In that sense, Namgung Geum could be said to be the most appropriate choice.
Doo doo doo doo!
A large four-horse chariot moved along the well-maintained road.
Disciples of the Haenam Sect positioned themselves around the carriage as if guarding it and drove the horses.
“······.”
Cheon Ga-ryeong, who was sitting across from me and staring blankly out the window, secretly turned to me.
As I made eye contact with a puzzled expression, an electric sound penetrated my ears.
-Have you done any research?
-what?
-What do you think?
-······I did my own research, and I also interviewed people. I also asked for cooperation from the Open Office (丐幇). Because it is such a vague issue, there has not been much progress yet.
Last year, when we recruited new members on a large scale.
There was a time when Cheon Ga-ryeong, who called me to his guest house in Akyang, gave me information that I had never specifically requested.
The information written on the information sheet was truly unexpected.
It may be possible to solve the problem of Dang Seo-yeon not being able to have children.
‘How surprised I was at the time.’
Single women cannot have children.
To be exact, you shouldn’t have children.
This is because the poison is transmitted to the fetus, resulting in the terrible experience of stillbirth.
Because it is not a problem that can be solved through medicine, the fact has been ignored until now.
Even if we don’t have children, I thought that if Dang Seo-yeon and I cared for and cared for each other, that would be enough.
But now things have changed.
Because a way to solve the problem was presented.
Although he never said anything, he knew very well how much Tang Seo-yeon cared about his physical shortcomings.
If possible, I wanted to spare her any more trouble.
-Has Hao Mun discovered anything?
-no. If that were the case, I would have told you sooner.
Of course, I did not inform Dang Seo-yeon of the relevant facts.
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Because she might end up feeling miserable.
It was only a possibility, but there was no guarantee that there really was a way for a German to have a child.
-It’s not easy.
-I told you from the beginning. Don’t have too high expectations.
-In the end, we have no choice but to expose the roots of the Demonic Cult.
I buried myself in the backrest and sighed.
Seoyeon Dang, sitting next to me, looked at me with a puzzled expression.
* * *
In the early days of the Demonic Cult, there was a being called a priestess.
A member of the demon god revered by all demons.
Although it is a symbolic being, it is a being that was supported by believers because it sometimes showed insight into the future.
The priestess played the role of a medium to bind the unruly and self-centered demons within the framework of religion.
‘Now the organization has stabilized and the religious overtones have disappeared.’
In the past, I heard that the symbolism of a priestess was essential for the stability of an organization.
The problem occurred here.
Since ancient times, power and religion have been inseparable.
Priestesses were essential for the survival of the Demonic Cult, but from the cult leader’s point of view, they were something that could not help but feel uncomfortable.
It cannot be dismissed, and checks must be made to ensure that its influence does not grow too much.
Looking at the records, it appears that the conflict between the religious leader and the priestess led to an incident that almost split the power of the Demonic Cult.
In the end, both the priestess and the believers who revered the priestess and rebelled were all torn limb from limb and died at the hands of the religious leader.
Chang Gye-gon, the leader of the Four Great Churches, who personally suppressed the rebellion, enacted a law to prevent the same thing from happening again.
『A priestess cannot marry a man other than the religious leader.』
He had subordinated the new priestess to him so that she would not dare challenge the throne.
In this way, the priestess was reduced to an accessory in a display case, having to live a single life for the rest of her life if she was not able to become a sect leader.
‘In fact, many of the priestesses of the past became the companions of religious leaders.’
What Cheon Ga-ryeong brought me was a record of that priestess.
『The priestess, who was the companion of the six great religious leaders, performed the ‘ritual’ while pregnant.』
Even if no one else knew, I knew for sure.
What is the ritual that the priestesses performed?
What process do they go through to accept the power of a sacred object containing the power of wisdom?
[According to what Reporter Cheon has figured out, there are two main conditions for using the divine object of wisdom. The first is energy based on the Heavenly Demon Heart Gong.]
[Are you saying that previous priestesses learned the Heavenly Demon Heart Gong?]
[no. My guess is that when the priestess gained the power of wisdom, the religious leader would have been present and flowed energy into her body.]
In order to instill the power of a divine object in a priestess, it was necessary to use the Heavenly Demon’s Heart Gong to flow the accumulated magical energy into the priestess’s body.
So what happens to the body of a priestess after completing the ritual?
‘Of course it’s bound to hurt a lot.’
No matter how much the priestess learns martial arts and develops resistance, even if the Demon Cult Master controls the energy flowing in.
It is inevitable that a huge burden will be placed on the body.
The destructive nature of the inner energy accumulated through practicing Heavenly Demon Heart Gong could not be taken lightly.
It would be easy to understand if you think about how long Yeo So-ok spent in a hospital bed, consumed by the demonic energy emitted by the religious leader of the time.
Yeo So-ok was like that, but what about the priestesses who received that energy directly into their bodies?
Even at the minimum, I would have had to abstain for half a year to recover my health.
The reason why Cheon Ga-ryeong, who did not know anything about sacred objects, was interested in the information was probably because she saw records about it.
The surprising fact here was that the companion of the six great religious leaders, who had performed the ritual while pregnant, gave birth safely.
It was something that couldn’t have happened based on common sense.
The energy accumulated by practicing the Heavenly Demon Heart Gong swirled through the body, and the mother lay ill for a long time due to the aftereffects.
Is it really possible for the fetus inside the womb to survive it safely?
It is said that the mother took good care of herself after completing the ritual, or that the child in her womb had a unique constitution.
It was not an issue that could be understood by giving such a reason.
[According to the records, it appears that the priestess at the time protected the fetus from demonic energy in a special way.]
[Special method?]
[I don’t know exactly what I did. Even though I searched through all the remaining records of what happened at that time, I couldn’t find anything. I can only speculate that it may have something to do with witchcraft, which was said to have been prevalent in the distant past.]
[It’s a spell.]
[The point is this. If it is possible to protect the fetus from demonic energy for more than half a year, wouldn’t it also be possible to protect the fetus from poisonous energy?]
[······It might definitely be possible.]
[I think it’s worth digging into.]
We have been continuously conducting investigations based on the information we received from Cheon Ga-ryeong, but we have not yet achieved any significant results.
The most certain way was to expose the headquarters of the Demonic Cult.
If you want to catch a tiger, you have to go into the tiger’s den.
If we overthrow the Heavenly Demon Palace, we might be able to salvage records related to the early days of Demonicism.
‘It’s truly ironic.’
It wasn’t long ago that I was relieved that thanks to the records left by Reporter Cheon, the secret about the return was solved, and there was no longer any need to search the Cheonmagung Palace.
Now I have to investigate that place for another reason.
At this point, I felt like there was something called fate that had tied me and the Demon Cult together and wouldn’t let me go.
‘Whoa.’
It had to come to an end one way or another.
Wouldn’t it be a good thing if additional income awaits you at the end of the inevitable fight?
Thinking like that made me feel a lot more at ease.
I closed my eyes and muttered in my mind.
‘In the end, what needs to be done is the same. Defeat the cult leader and destroy the demonic cult.’
martial arts,
