Chapter 2 The Beginning Of Fate
The leader of the Demon Sect, Han Jung-gil, known as the Black Demon Emperor, brought up an unusual agenda at the annual meeting where all the elders gathered. Despite his ability to perfectly conceal his demonic energy, he enjoyed subtly emitting it. His cultivation of the Purple Lightning Demon Technique gave him a faint purple aura, making him appear eerie to onlookers.
“Our sect, as the largest faction of the heretical path, boasts nearly 20,000 experts. However, if we exclude the low-level members dispatched to various branches and count only the useful experts, we barely reach 10,000. If we select the elite from them, we barely have 5,000. We are always at a disadvantage compared to the righteous path. Any good ideas?”
Elder Xiao Wumian, known as the Three-Faced Human Demon, objected. He was a veteran expert ranked 15th in the Demon Sect and was in charge of the Purple Star Demon Squad, one of the five major forces of the Demon Sect. His title reflected his three faces: a mad laughter and brutal hand in battles against the righteous path, a benevolent face to ordinary people, and a strict, meticulous, and considerate demeanor within the sect. He was popular among many members of the sect.
“We have enough power to defeat the sc*m of the righteous path. Why do you complain about the lack of experts?”
Elder Wang Ziying, known as Red Eyebrow Yan, responded on behalf of the sect leader. She was a woman who had reached the difficult position of the 3rd elder and 6th in the sect hierarchy. Her cultivation of the Red Blood Asura Demon Technique caused the ends of her long eyebrows to be slightly red. She was a meticulous thinker and an excellent martial artist, who was deeply loved by the sect leader, even in the bedroom. Thanks to her profound inner strength and her mastery of the Pearl Face Technique, she maintained the appearance of a woman in her mid-twenties. She was the head of the Three Secret Squad, the intelligence agency of the sect.
“Well, I’ll tell you why. We have detected movements from the Asu Blood Sect, although they are still minor.”
The term “Asu Blood Sect” was new to everyone, so the chief elder, Ye Jiepo, known as the Demon Sky Sword Ghost, asked, “What is the Asu Blood Sect?”
Elder Wang Ziying politely answered, “It’s the successor of the Blood Sect. They just changed their name.”
Everyone sighed quietly, remembering the fierce battle with the Blood Sect 80 years ago.
“Hmm….”
Then Elder Wang Ziying continued her speech.
The text provided is a complex narrative involving various factions and historical events in a martial arts world. Here’s a combined translation that maintains the essence of the story:
“Although we can handle a confrontation with the Righteous Sect, the involvement of the Blood Cult makes it challenging. Have you forgotten our battle with the Blood Cult, the predecessor of the current Blood Cult? We lost 40% of our combat power in that direct confrontation. It took us a whopping 50 years to recover from that blow. We also need to consider the movements of the Dark Demon Sect. Their actions are unpredictable, but it’s better to be cautious.
The Blood Cult, known for creating zombies and lost souls, compensated for their inferior martial arts with various sinister techniques. The Righteous Sect’s intelligence agency was the first to detect their movements. However, ordinary martial artists struggled to counter the powerful destructive force of the zombies and the sinister techniques. Unless one was an internal martial arts expert with at least first-class internal strength, it was impossible to fight the zombies and inflict damage on them. To avoid falling for the enemy’s various techniques, one had to have profound internal strength, which was why the Righteous Sect devised a strategy.
Since there was no sect with a large number of peak experts who could withstand a direct confrontation with the Blood Cult, the Martial Alliance secretly set a trap for the Demon Sect at the alliance meeting, causing them to clash with the Blood Cult first. The Righteous Sect pretended to help the Demon Sect, which suffered tremendous damage.
Perhaps the first time the Righteous Sect and the Demon Sect formed a united front was then. The Righteous Sect dispatched only their top experts. After the battle, the Righteous Sect issued a gag order to the participants, and the Demon Sect did not publicize the event, so the united front between the Demon Sect and the Righteous Sect became a buried event. If the Righteous Sect hadn’t helped, the Demon Sect’s damage would have been even greater.
There’s also the Dark Demon Sect, which can be considered the illegitimate child of the Demon Sect. After the battle with the Blood Cult, they obtained various books from the Blood Cult and proposed, “Let’s use these sinister techniques too.” The various techniques used by the Blood Cult gave the Demon Sect a fresh shock. The then vice-leader, Jang In-gul, disappeared quietly with his followers and the looted books when the leader ignored their proposal. He then changed his title to the Black Killing Demon Emperor and founded the Dark Demon Sect. The Dark Demon Sect became a unique organization combining the martial arts of the Demon Sect and the sinister techniques of the Blood Cult.
Elder Lee Cheong, the Sword of Repair, cautiously spoke after hearing her words. As the captain of the Yan Wang team and 14th in the Demon Sect’s hierarchy, he had a strong right to speak.
“What if we cultivate more elite experts?”
The leader showed some interest in his words.
“I’d like to cultivate experts, but what method would be best?”
“Contact each branch and kidnap a large number of children under ten to train. If too many children disappear, the government or the Righteous Sect might notice, so how about kidnapping only about 3,000?”
Elder Xiao Wu Mian, the Three-Faced Human Demon, objected directly to the elder’s words.
“We’ve been kidnapping about 300 children a year to train as warriors, but suddenly ten times that number, 3,000? Not only is kidnapping that many a problem, but where will we train them?”
Then Elder Wang Ja Young, with a gentle smile, answered on behalf of Elder Lee Cheong.”
“In reality, even if we bring in 3000 people, we’ll lose at least 1000 in the initial stages of cultivating their internal strength. After training them in various martial arts, we might be able to select about 500 worthy talents. So, we don’t need a training ground for 3000. We can set up a modest dwelling for the children, provide them with internal strength training, and build a training ground for about 2000. The 500 we cultivate can be adequately trained in our existing facilities.”
The leader seemed intrigued by her proposal and asked when the children could be ready. She replied it would take about five months. The leader then assigned various elders to oversee the construction of the training ground, the training of the children, and the creation of a new assassination squad. The elders accepted their tasks with anticipation, knowing that a group directly under the leader’s command would be elite and could strengthen their own positions.
After the meeting, the leader called aside an elder to discuss the movements of a rival sect, the Blood Sect. They discussed the possibility of the Blood Sect and the Dark Demon Sect forming an alliance, and the leader suggested leaking information about the Blood Sect to the Righteous Sect to instigate a conflict between them. The elder expressed concerns about the potential for a large-scale battle, but the leader insisted that it would be beneficial to let the other sects fight while they prepared their own forces.
The leader also suggested that they subtly inform the Blood Sect about the weaknesses of the Righteous Sect, hoping that the Blood Sect would choose to attack the less fortified Righteous Sect first. The elder agreed to do her best to carry out the leader’s plans. After their discussion, the leader asked the elder to join him for dinner, to which she agreed with a slight smile.
In the world of martial arts, where no group could claim absolute dominance, various schemes and plots were the order of the day. Every martial artist dreamed of unifying the martial world, but that was a mere dream. It was difficult for any group to cultivate a large number of top-tier martial artists, and if such an attempt was discovered, it would be fiercely opposed or sabotaged by other groups.