Volcanic Age

Chapter 236: To The Alliance Leader's Astonishment (3)

"I managed to define myself."

Nangong Weiwu's breathing was caught in his throat. He seemed to be more than surprised, as there was an unspoken emotion within him. Naturally, his eyes were filled with disbelief as well.

"Do you understand the gravity of your words?"

"Of course. I will not be able to hide it from you, and I have no intentions of hiding it."

Nangong Weiwu leaned back in his chair and laughed helplessly. "Haha…"

Meanwhile, Zhuge Xiang seemed confused by the turn of events.

"Hohohoh, seriously…"

Nangong Weiwu simply couldn't continue speaking.

They were talking about the Manifestation of One's Path here. Just what sort of realm was the Coruscant Realm, really?

Even if one had the blessing of the heavens, it would still be difficult. Even if one were a genius seen only once in a hundred years, one would still not reach the realm barring meeting certain conditions.

Even if the Absolute Masters of the Coruscant Realm, the Ten Empyrean Overlords, gave clues, it was questionable whether such clues were helpful or not.

The Coruscant Realm transcended human limits. The gap between the Coruscant Realm and the previous realm was similar to the gap between life and death—heaven and earth.

At the moment, there were no more than ten, now eight Absolute Masters in the murim. It was a difficult, almost unattainable realm.

Completion Sword Nangong Weiwu was as flabbergasted as the Blood Demon.

The beginning and end of the Coruscant Realm, the Manifestation of One's Path, would take a lifetime to reach. However, Zhou Xuchuan reached that realm at the young age of twenty-one, so the Alliance Leader's confusion was only natural.

Nangong Weiwu was so baffled that he had forgotten why he had summoned Zhou Xuchuan. As a martial artist, he couldn't hide his curiosity.

"I'm truly speechless." Nangong Weiwu looked up at the ceiling of his office. "My head denies it, but my eyes and my heart can't deny it. Mere words are not enough to describe my feelings at the moment."

"You can make your own judgement, Alliance Leader. I won't bother you by explaining my point."

"If it's okay, can you tell me what's going on?" Zhuge Xiang asked, bitterly smiling and looking frustrated.

"Hmm… I apologize, Vice Strategist." Nangong Weiwu came to his senses and awkwardly stroked his beard. "There are a lot of things I want to ask, but we have something to do, so let's put that off until later."

"What do you need?"

"The Demon Cult is moving."

The Demon Cult was the predecessor of the Demonic Path, and it was a religious and military organization that held "Strength" as its truth. During its heyday, it was so powerful that it was called the Cult of a Hundred Thousand. Of course, its glory days were over, and its strength had dwindled significantly.

"I was wondering when they would make their move."

They had already made plans for the Demon Cult's activities and invasion. It wasn't because they knew the future; they simply made a deduction. In fact, anyone could reach the same conclusion if they examined the murim's situation.

The murim's forces were divided into the Righteous Faction, Evil Faction, and the Demonic Path's Two Lineages.

Out of the three, the Evil Faction's strength was split in half due to Dan Libai's unfilial piety. The Righteous Faction and the Blood Cult also suffered damage from the Great War of Good and Blood.

The back-to-back events had destroyed the equilibrium, so it was only natural for the Demon Cult to reveal its ambitions.

"Since there aren't any rumors about the Demon Cult just yet, I'm sure they have yet to approach the Central Plains."

Xinjiang and Xizang stood guard on the south outside the Central Plains, while Qinghai and Gansu were on the southeast.

"Had a force of about five thousand people suddenly appeared? Like what the Blood Cult had done using the Yumen Pass," asked Zhou Xuchuan.

"That happened only just a little while ago, so how could that happen again?"

"As the Alliance Leader has said, we've deployed guards on the border of Qinghai outside of the Yumen Pass," Zhuge Xiang explained.

Instead of joining the Great War of Good and Blood, the Kunlun Sect was tasked with paying close attention to the Demon Cult's movements. The war had just ended, so all parties were wary of everything.

"According to our spy in the Demon Cult, they're actively preparing for war, securing weapons and military supplies throughout the cult. We've also compared this information through our other channels, so it should be trustworthy."

The Heavenly Strategist's information matched the situation.

The only problem is whether the Dark Heavens Association has intervened or not. Zhou Xuchuan mused. The Demon Cult was a force as fanatic as the Blood Cult. They said that "Strength" was everything, and their mindset of worshipping power was simply incomprehensible, even if one tried to understand it.

Thus, it was impossible to predict the Demon Cult's actions.

It was unclear if they had decided to invade the Central Plains themselves or if the Dark Heavens Association had pushed them forward like they had done with the Blood Cult.

"The Demon Cult's next target will probably be the Righteous Faction. After all, the Evil Faction's alliance, the Evil Valley, is too far geographically."

It wasn't only the Evil Valley; the Evil Faction's forces were mostly based in the south, so it couldn't be helped.

"The problem is this—the Righteous Faction doesn't have the capacity to fight the Demon Cult right now," Nangong Weiwu said, sounding tired.

The Righteous Faction had just dealt with the Blood Cult's invasion.

"To be specific, we lack the money and manpower."

Zhuge Xiang stepped forward and explained, "The aftermath of the Great War of Good and Blood has drained our coffers significantly. Thanks to your efforts, Great Hero Zhou, we minimized the number of casualties and injuries.

"However, we still had to spend a lot of money."

A war demanded a lot of money—more money than one could possibly imagine.

Victory or defeat didn't matter. Yes, if one lost, one would lose everything, but even if one won, the losses would still be tremendous.

The cost of medical supplies was just the beginning. Once the physician fees, funerals, and compensation for public service were added, the total was so great that it would make just about anyone curse out loud.

Of course, there were other circumstances as to why there would always be a lull after every war, but the main reason behind that was the lack of funds to wage another war.

"The number of deaths has reached almost three thousand, and there are also about nine hundred who can no longer live as martial artists.

"It's okay to negotiate their circumstances with the large sects, but we still have to provide proper compensation to those who are a part of the Martial Alliance or those from the small and medium-sized sects."

The large sects that made up the Martial Alliance—the Nine Sects and One Gang, and the Five Great Ancient Families had the ability to take responsibility for the deaths of their disciples or family members.

Since most of the Martial Alliance's budget came from them anyway, there wasn't any particular problem, even if they were to pay the compensation for the deceased or seriously injured.

However, the story was different for the small and medium-sized sects or those from the Martial Alliance. They were too broke to resolve such an issue by themselves.

Naturally, the Martial Alliance had to take care of them. That was one of its duties, after all.

If one had to fight with one's life on the line without being properly compensated afterward, who would fight in the next wars? The people's trust in the Martial Alliance would plummet into the abyss, and the sects' reputation would be ruined as well.

Some people would fight purely out of the benevolence of their hearts, but they were the exception, not the rule. In fact, there were times when the Martial Alliance was too financially strained to provide proper compensation.

At the time, there were countless deserters, and some even refused to respond to the summons.

"So I would like to ask you for help, Great Hero Zhou."

"By help, do you mean… you need donations…?"

Nangong Weiwu slapped his knee and laughed. "Hahaha. How could that be possible?! We're talking about not just a tael or two here. How could a Daoist have that kind of money?"

Zhuge Xiang also smiled faintly.

"Aren't you a hero, Great Hero Zhou? It would be a bit unpleasant, but I'd like to use your name to help promote donations for the Righteous Faction."

The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes combined were worth less than the Sword Dragon's name. Zhou Xuchuan's standing was beyond imagination. If he were to use his influence, he'd easily raise enough money to stop the Demon Cult's invasion.

Whew! Zhou Xuchuan sighed in relief. I thought I got caught raiding the Treasury of the Three-Eyed Godly Thief again!

He had been worried that they would say, "Actually, I know you raided the Treasury. Give it all up."

The Heavenly Strategist's wisdom was extraordinary, so it wasn't strange for him to harbor such worries.

"That's fine. Feel free to use me in any way."

"Ha!" Nangong Weiwu and Zhuge Xiang were surprised by Zhou Xuchuan's refreshing answer. "To persuade you somehow, I've been preparing for this day over the past few days, but it seems that I've been foolish."

Things would have been different had it been a year or two after the Great War of Good and Blood, but it hadn't even been six months since the end of the war, so their finances were inconceivably horrid.

They prepared to debase themselves a bit. Without money, they wouldn't be able to recruit people, which would negatively affect their standing in the Great War of Good and Demonic.

Nangong Weiwu had even called in the Strategist and the Vice Strategist, discussing late into the night how they would persuade Zhou Xuchuan if the hero were to refuse their request.

It was understandable. Those from the murim, especially those from the Righteous Faction, were extremely sensitive to honor. Zhou Xuchuan had built his honor through his martial skills, but they wanted to coerce him into using it to make some money.

It wouldn't be strange if Zhou Xuchuan were angry.

The warriors of this era considered honor important, but Zhou Xuchuan was different. After all, he had lived through the cruel times of the Era of War and Chaos.

He was the type to take advantage of the situation rather than keep his honor.

"I will be sure to inform the sect. By the way, is there anything else that I can do for you?"

"I would be incredibly relieved if you'd do that," Nangong Weiwu remarked. Then, his brows furrowed deeply as he added, "The aftermath of the Great War of Good and Blood and the impending invasion of the Demon Cult are already giving me a headache, but something else has just come up."

"What is it?" asked Zhou Xuchuan.

"We have traitors among us, and they might be part of that Dark Heavens Association you mentioned earlier."

Zhuge Xiang frowned.

Zhou Xuchuan's face hardened.

"Not long ago, several blood cultists imprisoned in the underground prison were poisoned."

After the Great War of Good and Blood, they managed to capture about a hundred blood cultists who had been fleeing from Lanzhou. They brought them to the headquarters to imprison them and dig up information about the Blood Cult or any spies in the faction.

"Only the people involved in the capture were aware of the underground prison's location. According to the guards at the time, there were no suspicious people, so it must have been an attack from the inside."

"Have we considered suicide?"

"Of course. We searched them to see whether they had any hidden poison on them."

Avaricious Wolf, Zhou Xuchuan mused inwardly. The culprit was obvious in his eyes.

The dark force hiding deep within the Alliance, monitoring and manipulating every move of the Righteous Faction. They were none other than the Dark Heavens Association executive—the Seven Stars Division's Avaricious Wolf.

"Since you haven't said more than you just said, it seems that there aren't many people under suspicion."

"It's embarrassing, but yes."

Many people in the world were incapable of admitting their mistakes or doing things that were beyond their abilities due to their pride.

Those people were especially common in the Righteous Faction, whose members valued their honor, and it went without saying that those people were even more common among the higher-ups.

Those people tended to make excuses to avoid responsibility, so it was nice to see that the Alliance Leader and the Vice Strategist had readily admitted their shortcomings.

These people truly deserved their title as heroes in the future. In fact, Zhou Xuchuan believed that they earned their respect at the time mostly because of their personality.

"It's okay. They must be too deep within the Righteous Faction at this point, and there's no way that they're ordinary people. On the contrary, if the investigation were easy, I'd think about any possible foul play."

The Dark Heavens Association wasn't an easy force to defeat. Avaricious Wolf was even more difficult to handle, as their identity was revealed only toward the end of the Era of War and Chaos.

"You're right." Nangong Weiwu nodded. "Even if you hadn't said anything, I was about to bring it up because I was worried about it. You did well."

"Is there something difficult about the matter?"

"The cause of death is poisoning, so there are those related to the alliance or within the leadership who would immediately fall under suspicion. Have you heard of the Black Shadow Division?"

"The Black Shadow Division? Wait, the Black Shadow Division really exists?" Zhou Xuchuan asked in surprise. If there was light, then there had to be shadows. There were rumors that not even the Martial Alliance was completely clean.

Sometimes, dirty work in the shadows was necessary, and it was rumored that the Black Shadow Division would be mobilized for such work. They mainly started with torture to extract information, but they eventually started kidnapping and using a target's relatives as tools of intimidation to get their targets to open their mouths.

Supposedly, this was all done by a secret organization, which was mentioned by people who cried out loud, saying that the Righteous Faction was full of "hypocrites."

However, the Black Shadow Division's existence remained shrouded in secrecy.

The rumors eventually became so big that the Martial Alliance officially denounced them outright, saying that the rumors were born from the instigation of an enemy force.

"In life, one will eventually come face to face with something unavoidable."

Nangong Weiwu smiled bitterly.

For example, what were they supposed to do if one of the prisoners knew a piece of information about a trap that could prove fatal to the Righteous Faction members? If negotiations were useless, torture would be employed.

If torture were ineffective, then threats would be used.

If time was of the essence, ethics had to be abandoned.

However, the Martial Alliance valued ??and represented the Righteous Dao, so it couldn't just commit such extreme actions. They had no plans of getting their hands dirty, so they had been avoiding it unless absolutely necessary.

If the truth were to come to light, they'd face criticism.

The impact would be bigger, as the actions of a mere individual from that division could easily harm an entire sect. However, it wasn't something they could avoid, so the Black Shadow Division was eventually formed.

The Poison Institute in charge of identifying causes of death or researching poisons for detoxification was actually under the Black Shadow Division.

It was only natural that the Black Shadow Division was the first to fall under suspicion upon learning that one of the higher-ups was related to the confinement, torture, and poisoning of those blood cultists.

"Who is under the most suspicion at the moment?"

"Poison Dragon Tang Mingren[1]."

1. I'm DEAD—The man's name literally means the Gloomy One. ?