The remnants of the Righteous Alliance went into panic after hearing the news. How could they not? Their leaders had been wiped out. Lucian didn't spare a single one.
"We are doomed! Buddha has abandoned us!" one Shaolin monk said, clutching his mala beads as he began to recite prayers to the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas, chanting over and over to calm his mind.
All the people here thought the same, even those who didn't believe in Buddha started praying out of fear. And the civilians? They were trembling in fear. The Righteous Alliance that protects peace has been defeated. Who will protect them now? Now that the Righteous Alliance leader has been killed, those evil and demonic bastards will take control. And neither of them is a good choice to flee to either. If they go to the evil faction, the men will become slaves and the women will be nothing but bodies to be used.
Despair and helplessness—the whole Central Plains are in gloomy states.
Lucian's group lost half of its peak martial masters, making it only around five hundred left, but the Heavenly Realm martial masters are still thirty; no one died in the last battle. And Heavenly Masters are as strong as sect or clan leaders. And above all, they have two True Immortal Realm martial masters! The pinnacle of martial arts!
After the battle, Lucian and his group just rested for a day before continuing their march. But before that, he gave his command to two of his subordinates to first go to the Righteous Alliance and evil factions and deliver his exact words to the remnants of the Righteous Alliance and Evil Factions.
"Your hatred for losing someone dear to you in this war, your foolishness, and your meaningless desire for revenge against me—I don't care about any of it. Everything that happened is simply the consequence of defying me. But because I'm merciful, I, Lucian, will grant you one last chance to surrender.
Cling to your stubborn pride and die by my hands, or surrender and serve me so you may live. Either choice is fine to me.
However, if you choose to accept my grace, gather at the Righteous Alliance headquarters. I don't care if you're a martial artist or a civilian. Go there if you don't want to die, because I will kill everyone who tries to stand in my way."
Is what he said, but the one going to the evil factions has slightly different commands, and that is to gather at the Evil Factions headquarters, but all in all it was the same, just in a different place.
And a day later, they finally started marching towards the Central Plains first since it was closer than the evil factions. His subordinates killed those who ambushed them and so on. Those people were mostly part of a clan; unlike sects, clans are based on bloodlines, so they naturally have deeper connections to each other than the sect system. The people who attacked had various reasons, either driven into the corner of no return or those with deep grudges against Lucian because their family members died or their masters had been killed by them... There are various reasons. Though, they all died in the end, since how could they defeat Lucian's group when their own leaders failed to do so?
When they arrived at the Righteous Alliance headquarters, the place was crowded. Almost millions of people were there. The whole Central Plains were bustling with people, but the moods were grim. Though Lucian didn't care.
On the large platform in the middle of that crowd, he walked up.
"Because of your foolishness, I lost my subordinates. To compensate for that, every family will send one person to the Heavenly Demon Cult within a month. If that person dies, then you will simply send another.
I don't care if it's a woman, a child, or an elderly... As long as they are not infants."
Lucian's voice resounded through the whole place, and because of his sound-enhancing technique, his words were heard by everyone.
Many people were horrified. What place is the Heavenly Demon Cult? It's a place where they need to learn demonic martial arts that will make them lose their sanity in exchange for strength. In order to gain their sanity back, they need to consume a human heart, blood, and even flesh just to advance the technique into a higher stage. Who in their right mind would want that? Unlike those demonic cultists, they are perfectly normal people. They're not as insane as those people.
Many people begged before him, groveling on the ground and pleading for their lives. Their reasons differed, yet the feeling was the same across them all… fear, horror, and desperation. Lucian's gaze remained cold and unwavering. Deep within, he despised this type of people. To him, they were weak-minded beings, the kind who bend before the strong to protect themselves, only to abandon them when someone stronger appears, and then grovel again before the next. In his eyes, such people were nothing more than shameless parasites, living not by choice but by cowardice.
He laughed in disdain. "You wish to live in peace without lifting a finger? Who do you think we are—your personal guardians?" His voice resounded like a dragon's roar.
"B-but we are civilians... We haven't learned any martial arts... W-we couldn't possibly be of help to you... Please spare us... oh great one..." they said in unison.
But Lucian, who saw this, only had an irritated look on his face... He was about to explode. "How dare this vermin talk back to me? They dared negotiate with me?" Is what he probably thought.
To his eyes, there weren't people who were born weak; there were only people who believed themselves to be weak... And with a mentality like that, over the passage of time, they shaped themselves into exactly what they imagined. These people were the kind who sealed their own future, surrendering themselves to weakness, serving those stronger merely to survive... In his eyes, they were nothing more than parasites. Having witnessed the strength of others, they began labeling themselves, dividing the world into who was stronger and who was weaker, accepting their fates without question, without effort to rise beyond the boundaries they imposed upon themselves. They became prisoners of their own perception, bound not by reality, but by the limits they chose to accept.
Lucian, who was looking at those people, felt disgusted. He immediately ordered his subordinates to behead them. The heads of these people who begged for their lives to be spared ended instead. The crowd went into silence after they saw the scene.
"I will not repeat myself, if you don't want to contribute then die!" he said coldly as he left and began his destination to the evil factions.
Lucian didn't care if these people would someday betray him; after all, he needs pawns, not comrades. The betrayals of those people meant nothing to him, as he never even trusted anyone in the first place.
And of course, it's not like they can betray him either. Since before they enter the cult, they need to consume a parasite that will eat their heart if they even dare to think of betraying the cult. If they want to get rid of those, they only need one thing: strength. Once you're powerful enough and master the demonic art, you can easily remove the parasite in your heart. But the thing is, once you master the demonic art, you'll already become a demon yourself. Even if you want to go back to what you were before, it's no use. You already consumed a human. And if you're a normal person before coming here, once you become normal again, regain your sanity, and remember those horrific things you did... Doesn't that only make you go crazy once again? Thus, living as normally as before is not an option for them. And even if they have the mental fortitude and still manage to keep their sanity after that... Can they even defeat the Heavenly Demon Cult leader who reigned at the top of these insane people? They can only swallow their revenge and plot against the leader while faking obedience, leading to many kinds of assassinations the Heavenly Demon Cult leaders received. Of course, none of those worked at all, and each Heavenly Demon Cult leader are psychotic people that doesn't mind these types of tricks, as this adds excitement to their dulled life. Targeting such people is pointless at all.
On the way to the evil factions:
"Is that really alright, cult leader?" Ma'wang asked.
"What are you worried about?" Lucian asked.
"Is it really okay to leave those people just like before instead of assigning someone there to keep an eye on them?"
Lucian answered almost immediately. "Our numbers aren't great now. Instead of scattering like a fool and getting our backs stabbed later, this is better. You shouldn't underestimate the things a desperate person could pull."
After arriving at the Evil Factions, Lucian said the same. But unlike the Righteous Alliance, no one here objected nor begged for their life. After all, these people are the same and just have different goals.
So after that, Lucian's core members came back to Mount Tianluo, their main base. And since all of them are peak masters and above, they're allowed inside Mount Tianluo, and this becomes their main base.
Before they came here, they brought Seo Hwa-rin and the Evil Factions leader with them. He's known as Bao Feng, a muscular guy two meters tall with a scar on his right eye; he has manly features. After all, this person is a True Immortal Realm martial master. As others said, keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer.
Just like that, after that chaos... a month later, a swarm of people like ants were in front of Mount Tianluo. Of course, the weaker ones were stationed far away since they couldn't be near Mount Tianluo because of the Heavenly Demon Cult founder's barrier.
The demonic martial artists in the Peak Martial Realm were given the position of instructor. They were in charge of training these people and making sure they learned the demonic way, and were the ones to report to the observers. The observers are the people in the Heavenly Realm, including the four demonic generals, Mo Haryun, Seo Hwa-rin, and Jin Hyeon-ryu. And the ones controlling these people in place of Lucian are Ma'wang and Bao Feng.
And as for Lucian? He went inside the Heavenly Demon Archive after giving them his order a month ago and hasn't come out yet. What he's doing there? No one knows.