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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The Joint Battle Begins in Earnest
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Some say the joy of life is that it never goes according to plan.
But what one must not overlook here is the fine line between joy and frustration.
Is it as they say, that life is like the old man's horse at the frontier?
A twist in the current can be a blessing for one and a curse for another.
And that was no different here, in the Divine Hall of the Latent Demon.
One day after the official entrance ceremony, in the training grounds of the Divine Hall.
Hundreds of cadets stood there, grouped in teams of five.
As the promised hour of noon approached, the sunlight grew stronger, casting shadows over the cadets' faces.
Looking closer, one could see some cadets whose expressions were dark, independent of the shadows.
They were all followers of the Five Phoenixes, One Dragon.
Their masters, too, with the exception of Eum Cheon-myeong and Hwan Cheon-hwa, all wore grim faces.
Among them, Geom Cheon-ha spoke.
"Tch. Where did the bastard who threw us to the bottom of the pond go hide? Why isn't he here yet?"
"The word 'us' is rather unpleasant. So Ryong and I held out a bit longer. And the winner has no reason to hide."
"Ha! Who won? And I, who charged in alone and got knocked out early, am better off than you lot who lost even after ganging up on him."
As if to prove they were rivals, Do Cheon-mu and Geom Cheon-ha couldn't resist growling at each other.
Unable to watch any longer, So Ryong intervened.
"Both of you, please stop. In any case, it doesn't change the fact that we were all utterly defeated by that one man."
Despite being the youngest, So Ryong always seemed more mature when he was with Geom Cheon-ha and Do Cheon-mu.
Just then, Dok Cheon-roe sidled up to the three and said,
"That's not what's important right now. For reasons unknown, Eum Cheon-myeong and Hwan Cheon-hwa have turned their backs on us. Now we have to stop that bastard on our own. Well, he'll probably be eliminated this time even if we do nothing, but we still have to get our revenge personally."
The other three nodded in agreement with his words.
Frankly, they had tasted despair that day. It was a plan concocted by the most renowned rising stars of the Demonic Cult.
Yet, the only thing they succeeded in was getting Maeng Ak to come to the pond. That was it.
And even that was because he came of his own volition, so in reality, nothing had gone according to plan.
The reason was simple. He was far stronger than they had imagined, and they were far weaker.
To make matters worse, two of the Five Phoenixes, One Dragon had dropped out.
To overcome this situation, they had to stick together.
Honestly, they couldn't even imagine defeating him alone.
Thus, they regrouped under the name of the Three Phoenixes, One Dragon.
Before they knew it, they had become like brothers, with the exception of the rivals Geom Cheon-ha and Do Cheon-mu.
All of this was to defeat that monster, Maeng Ak.
But the man himself, Maeng Ak, was nowhere to be seen.
With his extraordinary build, he would have stood out immediately if he were in the training grounds.
It was then.
"Make way! The great Maeng Ak, future Demonic Lord, is coming through!"
From the entrance of the training grounds, a man even larger than Maeng Ak came striding in, shouting.
It was Jo Gwang-uk.
"Wait! Isn't that him?"
As Do Cheon-mu recognized him, So Ryong asked,
"Isn't that the man who was cast out by you, brother, in the first test? I remember him for his exceptional external arts, for someone from a minor gate."
"Yes. But So Ryong, didn't that man just say that monster's name?"
"I think so…"
So Ryong was about to say he had heard something similar but was cut short.
It was due to the presence of a man who appeared behind Jo Gwang-uk, whose build was twice that of others.
The man's presence was so overwhelming that it made Jo Gwang-uk's large frame seem insignificant. The moment he stepped into the training grounds, the gazes of all the cadets, as if by magic, were drawn to him.
It was as if they were under a spell.
The reason was simple. The cadets of the Divine Hall of the Latent Demon had all felt Maeng Ak's energy at least once.
The energy contained within their own dantian was nothing to scoff at in terms of ferocity, but Maeng Ak's energy was on a completely different level.
His energy was too viscidly concentrated with a foul malevolence to not be demonic energy, yet it had a skin-piercing viciousness that made it feel like something else entirely.
Any martial artist would have heard the rumor that masters who reached a certain realm possessed their own unique energy.
Seeing Maeng Ak naturally brought that rumor to mind.
*Thud.*
Having cleared a path with Jo Gwang-uk in the lead, Maeng Ak's party soon stood at the very front of the training grounds.
They positioned themselves in two groups of five, centered around Maeng Ak.
Maeng Ak and Jo Gwang-uk were in one team, while Ha Gyeong led the second.
The cadets who had arrived earlier and taken their spots naturally formed a circle around them.
It was as if they were a crowd gathered to see them, rather than participants in the second test.
"Tch. Coming in last and making the most noise. I don't like it."
One of the Three Phoenixes, One Dragon muttered in discomfort.
Though only one spoke aloud, they all wore the same expression.
Fear, anxiety, and vigilance were all visible on their faces.
For some reason, it felt as though they were already losing from the very beginning, before the real test had even started.
It was then. Exactly at noon, the Chief Instructor appeared on the training grounds' platform.
He slightly raised his internal energy and spoke, looking down at the cadets.
"Ahem! You have all gathered as instructed yesterday. We will now officially begin the second test, the Joint Battle."
Spreading one's voice to fill the vast training grounds was no ordinary feat. Yet, as expected of a master at the pinnacle of the transcendent realm, his face was calm.
Before he began explaining the Joint Battle in earnest, he looked down and the corners of his mouth lifted.
At the end of his gaze was Maeng Ak.
Seeing this, the Three Phoenixes, One Dragon felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
* * *
"Hey, Jo Gwang-uk. Move your head. I can't see."
"Just like a guy with 'Gwang' in his name, you're a real pain in the ass."
"Hey. Didn't I tell you I'd stick a knife in your gut if you said that one more time? Huh? The 'Gwang' in Do Gwang isn't the one for 'crazy,' you fat pig."
"Fat? Ha! Are you blind? Have you ever seen a pig this packed with muscle? Huh?"
Jo Gwang-uk deeply regretted bringing Do Gwang, whom he had met by chance the night before, to Maeng Ak.
He was decent with a saber, but their personalities clashed too much.
"Do Gwang. Jo Gwang-uk. Both of you, stop it. The Lord will be here soon."
From behind the bickering pair, a female cadet, Gung So-so, who was gazing into the distance, stopped them.
She was from the only gate in the Demonic Cult that passed down the art of archery, and her eyesight was exceptional.
Her archery skills were quite remarkable, and with her flexibility and agility, she could move like a flying squirrel.
With these strengths, she was among the top cadets, but the reason she ended up in Maeng Ak's team was simple.
It wasn't that she had a difficult personality like the two in front of her. It was simply due to the fundamental problem of archery.
In the martial world, there was a prejudice against archery. The belief was that once a warrior reached a certain level, arrows were useless against them.
Of course, throughout history, those who were called divine archers had occasionally shattered that prejudice.
However, that didn't improve the treatment of archers.
The treatment Gung So-so and her gate received was no different, which was why she was cast out in the first test.
But Maeng Ak was different.
He personally placed her in his team and even told her that he had high expectations for her.
In her eyes, Maeng Ak was different from the other powerful figures in the Demonic Cult.
In the Demonic Cult, where the strong reign supreme, there was no place where the injustices based on strength were more accepted.
Yet, he led from the front, even climbing treacherous mountains for the sake of his followers, just as he was doing now.
As if to prove it, Maeng Ak, who had finished scouting the mountain that was the setting for the second test, was approaching.
Upon his return, Maeng Ak immediately walked past Do Gwang, Jo Gwang-uk, and Gung So-so, and spoke to a young man.
"Chang On. Your information was helpful."
"Loyalty!"
The young man called Chang On was, as his name suggested, a calm man in normal times.
However, when called by Maeng Ak, or when he held a spear, his eyes would gleam.
The night before, he was the cadet most thrilled by Maeng Ak.
That was why he was the first to volunteer for Maeng Ak's team and ended up here.
The reason Maeng Ak accepted him wasn't just his loyalty.
The founder of his gate was a man who had been a general in the government. He possessed martial prowess that would have earned him a high position had he not been falsely accused and forced to flee to the Demonic Cult.
Chang On, too, had inherited the spearmanship passed down through his ancestors and was no ordinary warrior.
Maeng Ak didn't know the specifics of why such a skilled individual had ended up in his team.
But he guessed it was likely due to his upright character.
A character too righteous for a member of the Demonic Cult. Of course, that didn't mean he was like a weak-hearted brat from the Orthodox Faction.
It was just that he would have clashed too much with the Five Phoenixes, One Dragon.
'Is it because his ancestor was a government soldier?'
Maeng Ak thought as he looked at Chang On.
His exceptionally righteous nature seemed to be proportional to his blind loyalty towards him.
In any case, the information from Chang On that Maeng Ak mentioned was none other than a mountain path passed down through his ancestors.
One might scoff at a mere mountain path being an ancestral heirloom, but it was the path his ancestor had used to escape from the government and flee to the Demonic Cult.
In other words, it was information known only to Chang On's gate.
And that would be a great help in the second test, which required them to find and learn from a secret manual hidden in these treacherous mountains.
In truth, the test was advantageous for Maeng Ak, who in his past life as the Fist King of the Green Forest had lived in the mountains for decades.
However, the location of the Demonic Cult's main headquarters was in the Tian Shan Mountains of Xinjiang. In other words, the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
No matter how knowledgeable he was about mountains, he still needed a general sense of direction.
And fortunately, Chang On had provided that direction.
"Someone who doesn't welcome our ascent probably came up with this ridiculous test."
It was a fact he had realized the moment he heard the test's details, but hearing it from his Lord Maeng Ak's lips made it feel different.
The team members clenched their fists in frustration.
*Squeeze.*
But they couldn't just give up.
Once they passed the second test, not even the Cult Leader or the Five Heavenly Pillar Gates would try anything further, unless they were prepared for an all-out war with the Council of Elders.
If they could just pass this test, they could truly stand at the top based on skill alone, just as Maeng Ak had said.
"We don't have much time left. We need to find the secret manual within two days at least to be able to compete in the Joint Battle."
The team members nodded at Maeng Ak's words. The Joint Battle was divided into three parts: first, the test of forming a team.
Next, the test of finding a secret manual hidden in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, which they were currently doing.
And finally, competing against other teams using the joint formation learned from that manual.
One might wonder why a joint formation was necessary to select a single Young Cult Leader.
But on the surface, the Divine Hall of the Latent Demon had the objective of nurturing the rising stars who would lead the Demonic Cult.
Inevitably, they had to maintain appearances.
Of course, within that was the role of filtering out those who were deemed undesirable.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have hidden the secret manual under such absurd conditions.
The Five Phoenixes, One Dragon and their followers probably wouldn't even need to search for the manual.
It was obvious they already knew where it was.
Come to think of it, Maeng Ak also had an easy way to obtain it by using Eum Cheon-myeong and Hwan Cheon-hwa. Or if not them, Ha Song or Dang Hyeon-woo.
But Maeng Ak chose the difficult path, wanting to foster the growth of his newly formed team.
And finding spirit medicines in the mountains, known only to him, was a bonus in the process.
Thus, Maeng Ak's team headed towards the meeting point where they were supposed to rendezvous with Ha Gyeong's team.