Chapter 55 The Five Vultures Siblings – Part 1

Chapter 55: The Five Vultures Siblings – Part 1

The Grand Battle.

The Blood Sect’s demonic leader, the mighty demon Jue Yongyuan, who had escaped Yunnan Province, and the ten subordinates standing behind him prostrated themselves with precision.

“Zhu Yongyuan greets His Excellency, the Commander of the Small Demon Army!”

Seated on the large dragon throne before them was a shrivelled old man of unattractive appearance.

He had a wrinkled, ugly face and eyes slit sharply like a snake’s.

He responded to Jeo Ungwon’s greeting with a smile.

“You’ve traveled far. Is His Majesty well?”

“Yes! Elder! He simply said to remember that the Blood Sect’s conquest of the world is not far off and to always be cautious!”

“Hmm. Yes, one must be cautious.”

Nodding at Jeo Ung-won’s words, the old man asked again.

“By the way, you lot—you didn’t do anything to attract the attention of the common folk on your way here, did you?”

At that question, Jeo Ung-won hesitated to answer, his face slightly flushed.

Then, the smile vanished instantly from the face of the kind-looking old man, the temple attendant.

“Why can’t you answer? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten into some kind of trouble?!”

In that instant, an immense killing intent surged from his small body, filling the entire hall.

It was a terrifying killing intent that made one’s body tingle.

Juewenguan hurriedly answered.

“I, I did take a few members of the Flying Dragon Corps for some fun before departure, but I caused absolutely no trouble on the way here! I swear it, sir!”

Then, the thin eyes of the Small-Faced Demon Lord, Saryangyang, narrowed even further as he glared at them.

Sowon Yang, the Demon General of the Small Face, was once the peerless demon lord who, alongside the Blood-Thirsty Demon General Jigwangok—who had perished at the hands of Seolpung and Seonwoojin in the past—was regarded as one of the nightmares par excellence by the righteous factions during the Great Blood War.

‘The moment the smile fades from his face, a sea of blood is created.’

This saying was famous not only among the righteous factions but also among the Blood Cultists.

No, among the Blood Cultists, he was known as an even more terrifying figure than the Blood-Thirsty Demon General Ji Guangyu, who had always been notoriously violent.

Seeing the smile vanish from that young lady’s face, Jeo Ung-won hastily bowed his head to the floor and cried out.

“I have committed a capital offense! Lord Ma-gun! Please forgive me!”

Following him, his subordinates all prostrated themselves and cried out together.

“Please forgive us! Lord Demon General!”

Then, unable to lift their heads, they trembled violently, awaiting their punishment.

If they incurred the wrath of the Demon Lord, it might not end with mere death.

If he was truly enraged, it might have been better to simply commit suicide cleanly.

A moment later, Ms. Sa-won’s voice came through, sounding somewhat more relaxed.

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be right to just tell kids these days to endure everything without question.”

Hearing this, Jeo Ung-won couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

But just in case, he kept his head bowed, listening intently, when the temple girl spoke again.

“Raise your head now.”

At that, Jeo Ung-won and his subordinates cried out in unison.

“Thank you! Elder Ma-gun!”

Looking up again, Saryang-yang’s face was smiling warmly, just as it had been at first.

He addressed Jeo Ung-won and his men.

“I’ve already captured some lovely young girls. I’ll soon tell you where to take them and what to do with them, but before you go, pick out about ten and take them with you to enjoy.”

At those words, Jueongwon and his men bowed their heads again, shouting with apparent gratitude.

“Thank you! Lord Ma-gun!”

***

Manjong-im and the members of the Twelfth Division left first.

This was after arranging the contact method with them and emphasizing twice, thrice, that they must not be seen under any circumstances.

Now that only the Eleventh Squad members and we remained, Bi Sa-yeong sighed deeply and said.

“If I ever have to transfer to the Twelfth Division, I’d rather go find Blood Demon and apply for a life-or-death duel.”

At those words, everyone burst out laughing.

Zhenchang Sword Saint Zhe Yuanying also smiled and said to me.

“This Je Won-yeong owes Young Master Seonwoo a great debt. I shall repay it in full someday.”

I grinned back and replied.

“Saying that makes it sound like I deliberately sent the Ten Thousand Suns Grand Master, doesn’t it?”

“Wasn’t I?”

“…The weather is truly splendid, isn’t it?”

He was quite sharp.

After that, we began discussing again.

I spoke first.

“In my opinion, the candidates are either the Zhengxie Sect or the Yun Clan. Since Lord Man said he would investigate the Yun Clan, I think we should look into the Zhengxie Sect. Of course… I do have some doubts about whether Lord Man can properly investigate the Yun Clan.”

As everyone nodded in agreement at my words, Young Lady Qingyan asked.

“Is there a reason you don’t think it’s the Mountain Sword Sect? Because their situation is the worst right now?”

The Yun Clan and the Mountain Sword Sect, currently opposing the CPPCC faction in Sichuan Province, were said to be in dire straits, with the Mountain Sword Sect’s situation particularly grim. It seemed they were on the brink of collapse.

But that alone wasn’t enough to be certain, so everyone looked at me with curious eyes when she asked her question.

“Of course, that is one reason. But beyond that, I also heard information about the Mountain Sword Sect while at the Xianwu Clan. It seems they can probably be excluded from consideration.”

At that, everyone except Miss Qingyan gasped in admiration and nodded.

But unfortunately, this was a lie.

There was no way I, who was in the Seonwoo Clan, would have paid attention to the other factions of the Guizhou Eight Clans.

What I knew for certain, however, was the outcome of this three-way conflict that unfolded after the front lines collapsed and I returned to the Sunwoo Clan in my past life.

‘Back then, only two of the three remained.’

By then, everything had already concluded. I had only vaguely heard rumors of past clashes with the Zhengxie Sect, but knew nothing else.

But one thing was certain: the Mountain Sword Sect did not exist then.

Only the Zhengxie Sect and the Yun Clan remained unscathed.

‘Thinking back now, it’s quite suspicious. After the conflict with the Zhengxie Sect ended, nothing else changed—yet only the Mountain Sword Sect was wiped out? And that territory was taken over by the Yun Clan? Does that even make sense?’

Judging solely by the Zhengxie Sect’s current strength and momentum, it seemed they could easily have advanced into Guizhou Province and still had reserves left over.

Therefore, the idea that only the Yun Clan remained intact to block the Zhengxie Sect’s advance was unimaginable at the time.

‘Looking solely at the outcome, the Yun Clan certainly seems the most suspicious.’

Chungyeon Sojeo stared at me blankly for a moment.

It seemed obvious to me, but she must have thought my conviction lacked foundation.

But she soon just nodded.

It seemed she couldn’t quite accept it, but since I’d said it, she was willing to let it go.

I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

I was grateful.

She asked.

“So it’s either the Yun Clan or the Zheng Xiefang. How do you plan to investigate them?”

Then, the people who had been looking back and forth between me and Miss Qingyan every time we spoke now turned their expectant gazes toward me.

They seemed to think I’d come up with some clever solution.

But unfortunately, I didn’t have a sharp solution this time either.

It sounded easy enough, but sneaking into their base to investigate them would be no different than walking straight into a trap.

The only thing we could really do was inquire with Hao Wen, but that method too, if mishandled, could end up alerting the other side that we were investigating them.

After all, Hao Men doesn’t discriminate against its clients.

He sighed and confessed.

“To be honest, I’m still not quite sure. Nothing concrete comes to mind.”

At that, the people sighed with expressions of regret.

“Ahhh!”

At that moment, Lady Cheongyeon spoke up.

“If finding them is so difficult, why not lure them out themselves?”

Hearing this, the people looked at her again with hopeful eyes.

This time, I was no different.

“How, pray tell?”

“Show them what they want.”

“What they want?”

What they want.

It didn’t quite click.

What could they possibly want that would make them come out of hiding?

Captain Seolpung couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.

“What do they want?”

Then Young Lady Cheongyeon answered.

“Assuming all this was planned, that was the strangest part to me. Why would they, who should act more secretly than anyone, attack the Twelve Great Masters?”

At that, I suddenly answered.

“Well…”

Then, a sudden thought struck me, and I hurriedly asked.

“Then?”

She gave a faint smile and nodded.

“Yes, that’s what I’m showing you.”

“Ah.”

I nodded as if I understood, then frowned again and said.

“But to do that…”

Then she smiled brightly and asked.

“Why? Do you think we’re not enough?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer, but honestly, I thought so.

That was when it happened.

Biseaeng suddenly scowled and shouted.

“Hey! Stop talking in code! Translate it into human language! So what the hell is that?!”

At Bisea-yeong’s words, everyone nodded with exasperated expressions.

It seemed everyone had been frustrated.

I smiled and explained it clearly.

“When the Demon King annihilated the two groups of the Twelve Generals one after another, there was one commonality, wasn’t there?”

But people frowned, seemingly unable to recall anything, and countered.

“Common point? What? What common point was there?”

Then, Lady Cheon Ju-eun raised her hand quickly and answered.

“Me! I know! It was that only the women’s bodies weren’t left behind!”

Being a woman herself, it seemed the women’s story had stuck in her memory.

He smiled faintly and nodded in approval.

“Correct, Miss Cheon.”

Then she let out a cheer like a child.

“Yay! I got it right!”

Then suddenly, as if realizing what it meant, he made an ‘Oh no!’ face and quietly backed off.

We cleared our throats and pretended not to notice.

I immediately continued speaking.

“It’s a common trait among the Blood Sect’s demonic leaders, but seeing how they can’t even restrain themselves from lusting after women in matters that require such secrecy, we suspect they’re likely vile lechers. So, Miss Qingyan’s proposal probably aims to exploit that weakness.”

After saying that and looking at Lady Cheongyeon, she nodded.

“Exactly. If there were a beauty so stunning that her voice alone could reach their ears, I think they wouldn’t be able to resist and would rush out.”

At those words, the people finally seemed to understand, letting out exclamations of admiration.

“Ah!”

At that moment, Jeon Changgeomho, the leader of the Eleventh Division, tilted his head and asked.

“But where would we find such a beauty? Ah! Not to disrespect the young ladies present here. Still, even so, for someone to be that renowned at a gathering filled with countless people, not just on the front lines… they’d have to be at least one of the Ten Flowers of the Martial World…”

It was while he was saying this.

Miss Cheongyeon suddenly raised her hand and slowly swept her bangs upward.

As her bangs lifted upward, our eyes widened in unison.

Je Won-young, too, was left speechless, his face blank.

As her face was revealed, a sudden, brilliant radiance began to illuminate the world.

I couldn’t tell if I was standing on clouds or water, if this was reality or a dream.

Her face, seen for the very first time, was truly

mysterious.

Yes. Mysterious.

Her beauty possessed something that seemed impossible to describe with mere words like “beautiful.”

A pert nose rose above her small, crimson lips, and above it, eyes like heavenly jewels shone brilliantly—one black, one blue.

That unusual eye color might have seemed a bit bewitching, but perhaps because of her beauty, it instead appeared sacred.

Lately, I’d seen Lady Dang Yeo-eun often and prided myself on having developed some immunity to a woman’s beauty…

Only now did I feel it bone-deep—that had been an absurd arrogance.

As we stared blankly at her face, she looked straight at me and asked.

“Do you think this is enough to draw out the Giant Demon?”

We had to nod our heads vigorously up and down.

***

The Mountain Sword Gate in the Yinhui region, bordering Sichuan Province, was inevitably the first point of contact for the Zhengxie Sect advancing eastward toward Guizhou Province.

Thus, they had already clashed with the Zhengxie Sect twice, and lost both times.

In the first battle, the Mountain Sword Gate suffered the humiliation of retreating without even engaging the Zhengxie Sect’s overwhelming forces.

When the Mountain Guard deployed with two hundred elite troops, the Zhengxie Sect had brought along a thousand warriors.

There was no way to oppose them.

The second defeat was even more humiliating.

They falsely proposed peace to Zheng Xiefang, only to ambush the peace envoys coming to meet them—and ended up getting utterly crushed themselves.

Even the two supreme masters of the Mountain Sword Gate, including one of the two remaining peak masters, and the entire two hundred-strong elite force were utterly annihilated. It was the worst possible outcome, robbing them of both honor and advantage.

So desperate were the circumstances that among the ronin, the Mountain Sword Sect was already regarded as a fallen sect.

Consequently, the Sanjeom Sect’s ronin recruitment office was currently deserted.

No ronin would come to a sect whose defeat was already certain.

No matter how much money was offered, it couldn’t be more precious than one’s life, so it was only natural.

For that very reason, Wang O, the clerk in charge of the Mountain Sword Sect’s ronin warrior registration desk, was sitting at his desk today, dozing off, with no one coming to visit.

As he was thinking, Wang-o suddenly felt the warm sunlight obscured by something. He lifted his sleepy eyes and looked ahead.

There, something enormous was blocking the sunlight.

Its sheer size was so immense that he wondered if a boulder had rolled down from somewhere.

But when a deep, resonant voice emanated from that boulder, Wang-o snapped back to his senses.

“Is this the reception area? I’ve come at the invitation of Chief Inspector Heo Jeon-sam.”

It was a colossal man.

So enormous, in fact, that he completely failed to notice the people hidden behind him.

Wang O raised his head to look at the shadowed giant’s face and asked hurriedly.

“You wish to enter into a warrior contract? Did you say it was an invitation from Chief Marshal Heo Jeon-sam?”

The giant nodded in response to the question.

“That’s right. I’m Bae Jong-gwan, the eldest of the five Doksu siblings from Doksu, Zhejiang Province.”

Wang-o, who had been hastily trying to write down his words, paused mid-stroke and suddenly asked.

“Ah, yes! Yes! The Du Shu Five… siblings? You say five siblings…?”

At his question, Bae Jong-gwan nodded and stepped slightly aside.

“That’s right. These are my younger brothers.”

Wang-o, who had been glancing naturally behind Bae Jong-gwan, froze as if struck by lightning.

Behind him stood one man and three women.

A sturdy man wielding a spear, and three women of striking beauty.

But Wang-o’s gaze was fixed on only one of the three women.

The other women were also beauties, but the third woman standing among them possessed a stunning beauty that Wang-o swore he had never seen even in his dreams.