Ascension of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 153

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 153

 

The Demonic Sect is an organization with very clear objectives.

 

That’s their nature.

 

It was the same when he was actively involved, and even before that. Even with the passage of time, it probably hasn’t changed easily.

 

The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest.

 

These are the life principles that support the Demonic Path and make it more true to its nature.

 

Therefore, they strive to become stronger.

 

All of them…

 

This also influences the way they wage war.

 

Through merciless breakthrough, they topple the center of enemy territory—the leader—then the following support forces thoroughly crush the remaining enemies.

 

Because they consider themselves strong, they establish relentless advance without retreat as their supreme strategy.

 

Therefore, the warriors of the Demonic Path are raised through thorough brainwashing and training to only look ahead and charge forward. Like horses with blinders.

 

‘But small-scale raids followed by retreat…’

 

A bitter smile formed.

 

In the past, he probably wouldn’t have even tried to think deeply about it.

 

Why bother?

 

Whether the enemy used strategy, dug traps, or whatever nonsense they pulled, he could just smash through it all.

 

But.

 

“Raids followed by flight, pursuit… It looks like they’re trying to lure us. But for what reason exactly…”

 

Like a true descendant of Zhuge, he began to focus on the movements the enemy was showing.

 

And the first thing he needed to do was.

 

“Hey, dog shit.”

 

“Hey! You bastard!”

 

He seemed to know that the term was referring to him.

 

Well, since he called while looking at him, it would be really dense not to realize.

 

“Don’t get worked up over trivial things and come over here to draw the locations where the attacks happened.”

 

“What?”

 

“Centered around the Star Blade’s Main House.”

 

“…”

 

Zhuge Mungi scowled and glared with clenched teeth, but seeing the serious expression, he soon sighed and crouched down beside him.

 

“This is Sichuan, and around here is the location of the Main House.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Zhuge Munhyeon nodded thoughtfully as he watched Zhuge Mungi draw out the shape of Sichuan.

 

“Well, Eunhwa Mountain that we visited a few days ago would be around here… The large town is a bit to the west, and Mishan would probably be around here?”

 

Only the sound of scratching the ground could be heard, and Zhuge Munhyeon concentrated while casually looking at the floor.

 

“There, is that good?”

 

“Good work, dog shit.”

 

“You, you…”

 

When he waved his hands to make him step back, Zhuge Mungi’s face contorted as he clenched his fists and trembled with rage.

 

“…Please restrain yourself. You know it won’t work.”

 

“….”

 

“There were twenty-five broken wooden swords. Nineteen of them were broken by Young Master Mungi. Amitabha.”

 

At Mujin’s calm words of restraint, Zhuge Mungi’s eyes trembled.

 

The one who tries to stop you is more hateful than the bastard himself.

“Hmm, ahem… huh?”

 

At that moment, Zhuge Munhyeon’s eyes widened slightly as he had been tilting his head left and right with a puzzled expression.

The drawing that Zhuge Mungi had made.

 

Since it relied on memory, it wouldn’t be perfectly accurate.

 

Since it relies on memory, it probably won’t be entirely accurate.

Swish.

 

Swish.

If the Demon Cult had set a trap to lure them in…

 

“…That’s strange. If they attacked simultaneously, they would have lured us at similar distances so we wouldn’t notice the trap.”

 

If the Demonic Cult has set a trap and lured us in….

Some places were far, others were close.

 

No matter how many lines I draw, there’s no distance where a trap could have been set.

Zhuge Mungi, having somewhat calmed his anger, grumbled as he interfered.

 

But Zhuge Munhyeon, deep in thought, didn’t respond and only stared at the ground.

 

“What are you doing? Doodling?”

“Terrain?”

 

But Zhuge Munhyeon, lost deep in thought, didn’t respond and only stared at the floor.

“Don’t tell me you think it’s a lure?”

 

“Hmm…”

 

“Terrain?”

No matter how much he asked, Munhyeon only half-listened and said what he wanted to say, making Zhuge Mungi explode in anger.

 

“You don’t actually think it’s a trap, do you?”

Zhuge Mungi, who seemed ready to grab him by the collar, suddenly showed a flustered reaction upon seeing the numerous lines drawn on the ground.

 

“…Why?”

 

“Hey! Are you going to keep ignoring me?!”

“What did you see that surprised you?”

 

“Hey, dude! When someone’s talking to you, you should lis… Huh? Huh? What?”

“What now. I find it strange too. I can’t understand what those Demonic Path bastards are doing. What they’re doing is clearly Tiaohulishan (Luring the Tiger from the Mountain).”

 

A basic strategy from the Thirty-Six Stratagems, calling the enemy from their well-defended stronghold to advantageous terrain to face them.

 

“…Why?”

But this is Sichuan.

 

“What did you see that startled you?”

However, Zhuge Mungi seemed to be thinking something slightly different.

 

“Munhyeon.”

 

“What can I say? I’m confused too. I can’t understand what the hell those demon cult bastards are up to. What they’re doing is clearly a diversion tactic.”

A fundamental strategy of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, which involves luring the enemy from their well-fortified stronghold to advantageous terrain where you can engage them.

A tiger in the mountains may be difficult to deal with, but it becomes easy to catch if you lure it into a trap prepared outside the mountain.

But it’s Sichuan.

The entire region is our party’s front yard, so where exactly are we supposed to lure them out to?

But Zhuge Wenqi seemed to have a slightly different idea.

“Munhyun.”

“Why?”

“But here’s the thing. If it goes according to your thinking, wouldn’t there be a gap on the Eunhwasan side?”

 

“What?”

 

What kind of out-of-the-blue comment is this?

 

Why would Eunhwasan come up here…

 

His brow furrowed for a moment, but his gaze naturally turned toward the side where Eunhwasan was drawn.

 

“Look at this. If this branch office gets attacked and all the warriors who came out for support leave to pursue the Demon Cult members, the path from outside into Eunhwasan opens up.”

 

The doodles he had been scribbling while pondering were erased by Zhuge Mungi’s hand, and a drawing showing only positions with nothing else was drawn on the empty ground.

 

“We don’t know the Demon Cult’s escape route, but if by any chance the escape direction goes like this…”

 

Zhuge Mungi added lines to the ground with an expression of deep contemplation.

 

He was predicting the Demon Cult members’ escape route.

 

And if that happens.

 

“Huh?”

 

The gate to Eunhwasan opens wide.

 

“Come on, don’t say such nonsense. You’ve already been there. It’s a place with five layers of security perimeter.”

 

“Well, that’s true. I was just throwing it out there. Hahaha!”

 

When Mujin poked his side, Zhuge Mungi burst into an awkward laugh.

 

No, wait. No.

 

It makes sense.

 

Zhuge Mungi left the Zhuge Family at age ten, so he didn’t properly learn tactics and strategy.

 

But he’s still a Zhuge.

 

That cleverness dormant in his bloodline sometimes awakens once in a while, like beans sprouting in a drought.

 

Zhuge Munhyeon quietly stared at the ground.

 

Countless hypotheses flashed through his mind.

 

What if by any chance they weren’t targeting the Tang Family, but had aimed for Eunhwasan from the beginning? What if they diverted the main house’s attention elsewhere for that purpose?

 

The objective… the craftsmen of Eunhwasan.

 

There are aspects that align with the movements they recently showed in Sichuan.

 

Though it’s just a hypothesis, mere vague speculation…

 

“Mujin.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What do you think you could do?”

 

“About what?”

 

“Could you break through Eunhwasan’s security perimeter?”

 

“…Me? What kind of nonsense is that? You saw it yourself, didn’t you, Young Master Munhyeon? It’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s incredibly tight.”

 

“What about two?”

 

“…”

 

“What if there were two warriors of your caliber?”

 

“Th-that’s… hmm.”

 

“Three, no, four. What if there were as many as over ten?”

 

Mujin couldn’t answer the question and furrowed his brow.

 

Ui level, or perhaps even higher.

 

When Mujin sets his mind to something ruthlessly, even the Tang Family would have trouble finding a match for him. If he were to break his fourth seal? I guarantee his skills would rank within the top five.

 

Ten such men.

 

Could Silver Flower Mountain’s perimeter defenses hold against them?

 

Even if you stack five sheets of paper to block something, paper is still paper in the end.

 

It cannot stop an awl.

 

Moreover, the Tang Family surely couldn’t have anticipated this.

 

At best, they would send messenger pigeons.

 

Even that takes time.

 

Unless someone was watching and controlling the entire situation from the heavens, there wouldn’t be enough time to track the movements of the escaped Demonic Sect members and see the bigger picture.

 

They would surely be confused for a while, blindly chasing and thinking only of killing the enemies right before their eyes.

 

“We need to go to Silver Flower Mountain.”

 

“What? Young Master, surely you don’t think Silver Flower Mountain will be attacked?”

 

“…It’s a guess.”

 

“A guess?”

 

“Yes, a guess. For now. It would be fortunate if I’m wrong.”

 

“But…”

 

“I know, it sounds ridiculous. The Tang Family would probably think it’s ridiculous too. It goes against common sense that demonic practitioners with such martial prowess would come here. But demonic practitioners are originally madmen who often act outside common sense.”

 

Mujin agreed with those words.

 

Because he knew one madman who had committed the outrageous act of coming to Wudang seeking ascension to immortality, borrowing Taiji Cave, and leaving the Mad Soul Art to a distant junior scholar.

 

But that was only possible because it was the Heavenly Demon…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But to send a carrier pigeon to the small lord….

What made it more worrying was that the Young Family Head would surely listen carefully to Zhuge Munhyeon’s words.

In the midst of all this, he was even more worried because the young master would surely take Zhuge Wenhyeon’s words to heart.

“Munhyeon, if Silver Flower Mountain is attacked, they’ll immediately send messenger pigeons to the main house. If we send news based on mere speculation and it turns out to be nothing, your position will become difficult too.”

“Munhyeon, if Eunhwa Mountain is attacked, they’ll immediately send a messenger bird to the main house. If we rush to deliver news based on mere speculation and it turns out to be nothing, you’ll be put in a difficult position too.”

“I know. But by the time messenger pigeons arrive from Silver Flower Mountain, it will be too late.”

“I know. But by the time the messenger pigeon arrives from Mount Eunhwa, it’ll be too late.”

“Too late?”

“Too late?”

“Break through, secure the target, and escape. How long do you think such actions would take the Demonic Sect?”

“Break through, secure the target, and get out. How long do you think it would take the Demon Cult to pull off something like that?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Th-that’s…”

“If they’re not planning to kill all the martial artists at Silver Flower Mountain, it won’t even take half a day. It might be much faster than that. But from Star Blade to Silver Flower Mountain is roughly half a day’s distance, so by the time the Main House receives word and hurriedly sends the Warrior Corps, they’ll have already fled, leaving only broken ruins behind.”

 

“Ah….”

 

It was fortunate that he had visited Silver Flower Mountain first.

 

He had roughly grasped the distance from the Main House to Silver Flower Mountain and knew approximately how much time it would take.

 

It wouldn’t be now yet.

 

If they really planned to attack Silver Flower Mountain, they would lure the pursuit team a bit further away.

 

Until the time it took for the Main House and the pursuit team to learn of Silver Flower Mountain’s crisis and return became similar.

 

Roughly half a day.

 

Victory or defeat would be decided within that time.

 

“Mungi, sometimes there are cases when you have to gamble.”

 

“….”

 

“And if that gamble succeeds, you’ll no longer be treated as an outsider in the Tang Family.”

 

The conversation was over.

 

Zhuge Munhyeon immediately spurred his horse toward Silver Flower Mountain, and Mujin followed behind, displaying his now-familiar horsemanship.

 

Zhuge Mungi, who had been silently watching the retreating figures of the two men, let out a sigh as if the ground would cave in.

 

“Damn it… this ill-fated relationship is long, so long.”

 

But there was no other choice.

 

* * *

 

The Tang Family’s Samyang Hall.

 

The atmosphere had sunk ominously due to the untimely disturbance caused by the Demonic Sect.

 

Family Head Tang Hyeokseong, sitting in the Grand Master’s Chair with his chin propped up, had a face full of displeasure, while the retainers were each spitting as they cursed the Demonic Sect.

 

Tang Yeon sat quietly amidst the commotion.

 

There was no need to step forward.

 

The Young Family Head’s role was to exercise delegated authority when the Family Head was absent, not to assert opinions in a place where the Family Head was present.

 

But then.

 

“…Silver Flower Mountain?”

 

“That’s right. It’s a messenger pigeon sent by Zhuge Mungi.”

 

“Hmm….”

 

The note the messenger handed over.

 

It contained urgent instructions to move immediately as Silver Flower Mountain might be under attack.

 

What was this all of a sudden….

 

But the sender was Zhuge Mungi, and the Violent Dragon Zhuge Munhyeon who traveled with him.

 

He felt that something was amiss.

 

He wasn’t the type to speak falsely.

 

Tang Yeon jumped into the commotion.

 

“Father.”

 

“…What is it?”

 

“It seems we should go to Silver Flower Mountain.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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