“Do we just keep going like this?”

“That’s what we were told.”

“Damn it, why is it always like this? They could at least tell us something midway!”

“Have you ever seen this run normally? Shut up! Just run for now!”

“Just one thing! One more thing!”

“What!”

“Are they coming too?”

“They’re not coming our way.”

“Then where are they going? Well, looking at the map, this isn’t exactly a place where they could use their strength.”

“There’s your answer. They went somewhere they can use their strength.”

“Oho.”

“Shut up! I’m out of breath! We’ll miss the timing! Just run!”

“Ah, fine, let’s do that!”

Seok Gyeong’s eyes deepened.

“So it is over there.”

“It is.”

“The presence is indistinct. It feels like one person, but it also feels like two. And from another angle, it feels like three.”

“Do you think they knew we were coming?”

“I don’t know that. However, I heard their martial arts are at the level of a faction’s leader. If their martial arts are that high, they would have read our military force.”

“So you mean we do not know whether they knew in advance, but at the very least, they would have sensed the Killing Intent and prepared.”

“Isn’t everything like that? You know it as well.”

“That is true.”

Unlike Seok Gyeong, Gok Gang’s face carried a subtle arrogance.

He was the one who had become a Warrior-General latest among the current Eighteen Warrior-Generals. Naturally, his rank was also the last, the eighteenth Warrior-General.

He had survived countless battles until now, but he had never been deployed on an operation as a Warrior-General. Naturally, he had a strong desire to earn merit in order to rise as a higher-ranked Warrior-General.

At the same time, his pride as a Warrior-General was immense. Moreover, the troops who had come with them were also remarkable, so expectation and arrogance could only come together.

Looking at Gok Gang, Seok Gyeong clicked his tongue.

“Do not let your guard down. Yo Roe and Gyu Jeok died at their hands. If they were incompetent half-wits, would we have brought this many troops?”

“I know. That is why we brought troops. That is also why I am relieved.”

Seok Gyeong shook his head inwardly.

Regardless of whether one was old or young, when someone had enough life-and-death experience and still reacted like that, it could only be described as inborn nature.

Put another way, considering he had risen to this position despite being arrogant by nature, his talent had to be considered outstanding.

He probably would not be corrected unless he met an opponent capable of breaking that talent.

“Let us stop the pointless talk here and finish this quickly.”

“Let’s do that. Ah! Come to think of it, we were supposed to capture them alive, not kill them, weren’t we?”

“They said capturing them alive would be best if possible, but it would not matter if we killed them.”

“That is good.”

Gok Gang wore a thick murderous smile.

From the beginning, he had no intention of leaving anyone designated an enemy alive. If he had been ordered to capture them alive no matter what, that would be one thing, but unless that was the case, he would press forward with every intention of killing them.

“Let’s go.”

Thus, with Seok Gyeong, Gok Gang, and the Thirteenth Warrior-General Mu Seong at the front, one hundred fifty Divine Flame Cult masters advanced.

Hm.

Seok Gyeong looked around.

The terrain is peculiar.

The entrance was narrow and long. The cliffs on either side were fairly high, so even someone using the finest movement technique would have difficulty climbing them.

This land was certainly different from his homeland. The terrain was far more dynamic, and therefore far more complex.

He suddenly felt he understood why the people here were so versed in strategy and tactics. Having fought all kinds of battles across this vast Central Plains land, they had no choice but to constantly devise methods of responding to terrain and weather.

“Could it be a trap?”

At Gok Gang’s question, Seok Gyeong shook his head.

“The most effective tactic in a place like this is a falling-rock stratagem. They may also throw oil jars and shoot fire arrows.”

“I see.”

“But I sense neither presence nor Killing Intent, and considering their numbers, it is hard to believe they would have made such preparations. Besides, they were constantly moving. Manpower aside, they would not have had enough time to create a trap of that scale.”

“You are right.”

It was then that Mu Seong opened his mouth.

“What if all of that was part of the trap?”

Just like the name Mu Seong, he was a man of few words. If no one spoke to him first, he would not open his mouth once for a month or two.

Seok Gyeong shook his head.

“Then the story would not make sense from the start. That would mean the Provincial Defense Commissioner joined hands with them and prepared a trap, and if we think of it that way, it means we had already lost from the beginning.”

Mu Seong nodded without answering.

“More importantly.”

Starlike light poured from Seok Gyeong’s eyes.

“This is extraordinary.”

HOOF!

A chilling aura could be felt from far away.

The density of that momentum was truly remarkable. A spirit that seemed ready to pierce the sky and an abyssal energy whose depth was difficult to measure could be felt at the same time, and neither side could be taken lightly.

Extraordinary.

Leaving aside who was stronger, he somehow felt that despite giving off such different temperaments, they were strangely harmonious. The martial arts they had learned were different, but he felt as though they complemented one another well through qi.

In other words, they are allies?

It was then.

PAAK!

Two presences like storm winds approached at terrifying speed.

It was a sudden charge. Seok Gyeong, Gok Gang, and Mu Seong all completed their preparations for battle in an instant.

WHOOM.

However, the two unknown masters were not trying to engage in battle immediately.

“Hmm.”

Tang Gwan, the middle-aged man who stopped at a distance, stroked his chin as he looked over the Divine Flame Cult masters.

“You came swarming in just because two of your people died. Their faces are fairly impressive. Especially....”

Tang Gwan looked at Seok Gyeong.

Seok Gyeong also glared at Tang Gwan with unwavering eyes.

He is strong.

He was certainly different from that hulking bastard.

The level of martial arts he sensed from them was similar. Seok Gyeong seemed slightly stronger, but the difference was so small that it would be fair to say there was almost none.

That was not the important part.

His mindset is different.

Yo Roe had been a master who deserved full marks in most of the qualities a martial artist should possess, such as strength, Inner Qi, and stamina. However, he had also possessed an attitude a martial artist must necessarily guard against.

Carelessness and arrogance.

Perhaps those were weaknesses shared by the majority of the strong.

But this man was not like that. Even while being the strongest master among those leading this group, he maintained a suitable degree of tension. At the same time, there was a spirit in him that said he would absolutely not lose.

Now some proper ones have finally come.

It was then.

“How exciting.”

Yeon Hojeong took one step forward.

WOOOOONG.

Mad Dragon, resting on his shoulder, let out a terrifying ringing.

The sight of his natural enemies stirred a feeling of wrath that boiled up from his dantian, and that wrath called forth fierce Killing Intent. That Killing Intent flowed entirely into Mad Dragon, making it let out a sharp cry.

In the past, the organization Yeon Hojeong had fought with all his life on the line had been the Perverse Lust Cult. He had never fought a proper battle against the Divine Flame Cult.

But to him, the Divine Flame Cult and the Mad Blood Cult were no different from the Perverse Lust Cult.

In the end, they were the Three Creeds. Because of the Three Creeds, the things he had to protect had been destroyed, and precious people with whom he had shared friendship had lost their lives.

And now, in this altered history, they had become beings that threatened even the lives of his surviving family.

The past, the present, and the future.

In all those domains, Yeon Hojeong could find no reason not to be angry at the Three Creeds.

“You three. Are you Eighteen Warrior-Generals?”

His laughing voice was soaked with dense Killing Intent.

Seok Gyeong’s eyes deepened.

“You knew our identity?”

“Those scraps you brought with you are Divine Flame soldiers.”

Shock and tension appeared both on Gok Gang’s face, which had been tightly wrapped in arrogance, and on Mu Seong’s expressionless face.

Seok Gyeong’s face twisted slightly.

“You bastard. How do you know so much about us?”

“One of your people told me.”

“Our people?”

“The Twelfth Warrior-General. After a little torture, he spilled everything quite nicely.”

Nonsense.

The Eighteen Warrior-Generals were not positions one could rise to simply because one’s martial arts were strong.

Martial arts were only the foundation. One could only rise after proving absolute loyalty to the Cult. Once someone reached the level of a Warrior-General, the chance of committing treason even in dreams was low.

In other words, no matter how horrific the torture, they would never divulge information about the Cult. Someone with that level of mental fortitude could not become a Warrior-General in the first place.

Even the endlessly arrogant Gok Gang before him would abandon his life before divulging a single piece of information about the Cult.

After glaring silently at Yeon Hojeong, Seok Gyeong continued speaking.

“Time is precious, so let us end the pointless conversation here. In other words, you are the ones who killed the Warrior-Generals of this Cult.”

There were many things he wanted to ask and many things he wanted to know.

But this was a battlefield. There was no need to waste mental strength on a needless war of words.

Kill them, or capture them alive. That would be enough.

At Seok Gyeong’s words, Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“That is right.”

“Judging from your faces, it seems this will have little meaning, but I will give you your first and last ultimatum.”

HWARURUK.

Seok Gyeong’s pupils turned vivid blue.

He, too, had learned the Blue Furnace Pure Fire Art that Gyu Jeok had cultivated. But the momentum he had reached was on a completely different level from Gyu Jeok’s.

It was deeper, hotter, and more vicious.

A tremendous qi wave, as though he could turn this entire area into a sea of fire by himself, transmitted outward.

“Surrender. You will not lose your lives immediately, and even if you die in the future, I will grant you a death without pain.”

His words carried terrifying confidence.

And his confidence was justified. With this much difference in troop strength, even the most timid man under heaven would be able to find courage.

The difference in forces between the two groups was that great.

“I refuse.”

However, there was not the slightest tremor in Yeon Hojeong’s voice.

Seok Gyeong nodded.

“Good.”

That was the end of his words.

“Everyone, prepare for battle.”

HOOF!

In that instant, Yeon Hojeong and Tang Gwan frowned without realizing it.

HWARURURUK!

It felt as though lava was flowing through the entire narrow path. Before the tremendous Fire energy emitted by more than one hundred masters, even the air seemed startled and tried to flee.

Both Yeon Hojeong and Tang Gwan were people who knew well how to attack masters who had cultivated heat-yang arts.

But there were limits to that, too. Before this tremendous Fire energy raised by their tight formation, even the two of them, masters under heaven though they were, would not find it easy to approach.

As expected, this will not be easy.

Killing Intent was Killing Intent, and reality was reality.

Yeon Hojeong examined the formation of masters with cold eyes.

Each and every one of them is strong. And further, all of them are without carelessness... hm?

Yeon Hojeong’s gaze stopped on Gok Gang.

He was not yet forty. Considering that he had broken through the Wall of Martial Arts at that age, he had to be a possessor of truly astonishing talent.

Yeon Hojeong grinned.

It was because he sensed subtle arrogance in Gok Gang’s expression.

KUNG!

Yeon Hojeong struck the ground with Mad Dragon, which had been resting on his shoulder, then lifted the axe again and pointed it at Gok Gang.

“You. What is your name?”

Yeon Hojeong’s eye was accurate.

“......You insolent little bastard.”

Gok Gang’s face twisted sharply.

At a glance, the brat looked at least ten years younger than him. With someone like that pointing an axe at him, Gok Gang’s temper twisted as far as it could go.

Before Gok Gang could open his mouth again, Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“I am Yeon Hojeong.”

“......?”

“Do you know me?”

A strange light shone in Seok Gyeong’s and Mu Seong’s eyes.

The greatest younger-generation master under heaven.

There was no way they would not know the fame of the Green Mountain Tiger Commander. It was the hottest-burning name in the current martial world.

Indeed.

Green Mountain Tiger Commander Yeon Hojeong. The eldest son of the Yeon Clan of Green Mountain in Gangdong.

He was the greatest genius of this era, a man who, unusually for the Yeon Clan famous as a clan of swords, used a gigantic axe as his main weapon and had cast an immense reputation.

The corners of Gok Gang’s mouth rose.

“So that is why you were carrying an axe. You lunatic. You think the world is all yours just because you picked up one decent-looking weapon—”

“Come in.”

“......What?”

“Let the weakest ones fight first.”

“......?!”

“Was I wrong? You are the weakest one there, aren’t you? You are perfect for the vanguard.”

In that instant, Killing Intent exploded from Gok Gang’s body.