Who threatened Cheonma Hara with a knife - Chapter 280



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Who threatened to call me Cheonmahara with a knife? Episode 280

Return of the Golden Horse (2)

It took about two weeks to leave Nanju and move.

After a journey that was either long or short, they arrived at the entrance to the headquarters.

“Please come and take a look, Anjeokun Ark.”

“Confucius, please go in and take a look.”

An Jeok-un Bang-ju, who greeted them with a strangely happy expression, walked in the direction of the Bagua Hall.

There was a bundle hanging on his back.

It was a bundle containing the iron shield that was used to disguise Haomun’s work as the work of the Blood Cult. To be exact, the iron shield had been subjected to various shamanistic treatments to hide the evil spirit and blood energy contained within it.

The reason An Jeok-un returned to the headquarters with the iron shield was also to destroy evidence.

‘Somehow, it felt similar to Representative Seo.’

It was more to satisfy my own desire for research.

‘I have a feeling that the Bagua Chronicles and the Ansisaega would be full of things like that.’

In a place already full of toxic substances like sulfur and mercury, they even put something like that there.

I had a strong feeling that I shouldn’t get close to sorcerers.

After parting ways with Anjeokun Ark, they took a short walk inside the headquarters. They finally arrived at Pungamjeong, which they could call their home after a long time.

“I will prepare water for bathing.”

Jin Ha-yeon, who said so, quickly gave instructions to Jeong Hyeon and Joo Seo-yeon.

“Jeong-hyeon, prepare the bath water right now. And Seo-yeon, start cleaning the Prince’s quarters from now on. I will go and report to the Supreme Being that the Prince has returned.”

Even though he returned to the main temple, he first took a bath and purified himself, and it wasn’t just because of his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Now that I was about to be discharged, I wasn’t in a state where I would have a seizure because my body was a little dirty.

It was just that, since it was the first time in a long time that I was seeing my teacher, I wanted to get my body and clothes in order.

“Seon-ah, please come with me until the end of the road back to Sega.”

At Jin Ha-yeon’s instruction, Hyukryun Seon-ah, who had not yet entered the Magic Hall but was half a member of the Silver Pavilion, looked at Il-mok with a regretful expression.

“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, brother.”

“Yes. It must have been a long journey and tiring, so let’s go back now and get some rest.”

After exchanging a quick greeting with Ilmok, Hyukryeon Seon-a left Pungamjeong with Jin Ha-yeon, and Jeong Hyeon followed suit to get some bath water.

Let’s take a moment to watch Joo Seo-yeon diligently cleaning Pungamjeong. Jeong-hyeon returns holding a jar of bath water.

When she came out after washing her body cleanly with the water she brought, Jin Ha-yeon had also returned.

“Confucius, the Supreme Being of all the gods has said that he will be waiting for you together with the leaders of the teachings.”

“Why are they waiting for me again?”

When Ilmok asked as if it was absurd, Jin Ha-yeon answered with a calm expression.

“It is because of the contributions Confucius made in the Central Plains.”

Her usual attitude was somewhat indifferent, but her tone was as if something was natural.

It seemed like he was saying that since you had done so many great things in the Central Plains, it was only natural that this should happen.

“However, we plan to only inform the elders because we need to keep the relationship between the Maitreya Buddhism and our new religion a secret.”

At Jin Ha-yeon’s comment, Ilmok let out a light sigh and quickly got ready.

It was rude to make the teacher wait, but I couldn’t relax when high-ranking officials from other religions were gathered there.

Ilmok, dressed in neat attire, left Pungamjeong with Jin Hayeon and headed to Cheonmajeon.

When they arrived at the entrance to Cheonmajeon, Jin Ha-yeon stopped as if she would wait there, and then Ilmok entered the hall alone.

There were a little over ten people gathered there.

The master and Cheonmain, Hyukryeon Ilhwi, is sitting on the throne and looking at himself with a blank expression.

And the silver guards standing behind the teacher as if to assist him, and the left and right guardian deity lions standing in the lower section to the left and right of the teacher’s grand secretary.

On the left and right of the guardian deity, the heads of each organization and the heads of the five great families were seated.

Some of them were faces I had met before, and some were faces I was seeing for the first time.

Although I had met and talked with the new head priest and the new head of the clergy in person, it was my first time meeting the new head priest and the new head of the clergy.

Likewise, among the heads of the five major clans, I have personally met Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang, the head of the Hyeokryeon clan, Baek Woon-hak, the head of the Baek clan, and Guyang Pae, the head of the Guyang clan, but this was my first time seeing the head of the Dokgo clan and the head of the An clan.

‘… Just by looking at their faces, I think I can tell who is the head of the Dokgo family and who is the head of the An family.’

There was a middle-aged man whose appearance and face resembled Dokgo-pae’s, and there was also an old man with a somewhat indifferent expression and the air of a bachelor.

‘Hmm. The newly elected elders and elders have not entered the Inhae-gyeong yet.’

Perhaps it was because they had reached a level where they were about to be decapitated. Ichimoku had a vague feeling that the two were probably at a similar level to his own.

In addition, the shadow footnote also had a similar feeling to those two.

‘Well, Inhaengyeong isn’t the name of a neighborhood dog.’

No matter how much the Cheonma Sect worshipped the martial arts and was a crazy group that learned magic from a young age, it was not easy to successfully escape from the high-level magic and enter the Inhae Realm.

‘Then, there are ten masters of the Inhae Kyung left in the Shingyo.’

The heads of the four great families, including the An clan. The great elder brother. The guardian of the law and the Eunwi clan. The left and right guardians of the law. And even the magician’s chief, Yeom Ga-hui, who is not here.

Since the Anshi Sega and Bagua Jeon were on the shaman side, it felt somewhat ambiguous to divide them by the boundary of the Inhae Gyeong.

Also, in the case of Dohwaryungju, who was taking care of the elderly with dementia in Dohwaryung, it seemed that it was not yet time for the situation to change.

‘I think he’s come to some realization after recovering from dementia, but he hasn’t completely transformed, so he’s probably similar to me.’

Finally, there was a master sitting on the throne, but Ilmok instinctively realized that the master called Cheonma was far from being categorized as the ‘Inhae-gyeong’.

I hadn’t noticed it at all in the past, but I could vaguely see it as I was about to be released.

Beyond the ridge that was now barely visible, another, absurdly tall mountain remained.

Right on top of that high mountain, the Master sits and looks down on the earth.

‘… So this is why the pseudo-demonic cults worship Cheonma as a god.’

It felt like I was finally able to catch a glimpse of the truth that I had always cursed and hated inwardly, only after reaching a high level.

Meanwhile, while Ilmok was assessing the level of those inside Cheonmajeon, those who were there were also assessing Ilmok’s level.

‘…absurd.’

‘I’ve heard rumors that he’s a genius, but I didn’t think it would be to this extent.’

They were all at least the same size as Ichimoku, and most of them were higher than Ichimoku, but it was difficult to hide the feeling of ‘shock’.

The youngest Confucius was still a young boy who had only just graduated from the Magic Academy a year ago.

But the fact that he had already reached that level was an unprecedented growth rate in the history of the Demonic Cult.

‘Hehehe. As expected from our youngest!’

Only Wei Jin-hak could suppress his exclamation of surprise and joy.

After looking at those inside Cheonmajeon, Ilmok quickly bowed and paid his respects to his teacher.

“I, the lowly eighth disciple, come see the master.”

Even though he knew that Ilmok was assessing his level, Cheonma just laughed in vain.

“Hehehe. It’s only been about a year, but it feels like it’s been a while since I last saw you since I sent you to the Magic Hall.”

“I am sorry for not being able to visit you often, Master.”

“Hahaha. They say courtesy is proportional. Since you’re busy, it can’t be helped, right?”

Ilmok felt a strange emotion as he saw Cheonma smiling while stroking his white beard.

‘…Somehow, it feels like you’ve aged a lot in just one year.’

It was a strange thing.

What was more difficult to discern in old age than in young people was the change in old age.

But even though only a year had passed, signs of aging were already visible on Cheonma’s face.

Cheonma opened his mouth again with a smiling face, not knowing whether he knew Ichimoku’s thoughts or not.

“I think the reason a year feels so long is probably because of all the news you sent me. So much has happened in just one year. Hehehe.”

“All of this is thanks to the Master’s teachings.”

Cheonma burst into laughter again at the blatant flattery. Although Cheonma usually did not welcome flattery, he strangely felt good when he heard the youngest’s flattery.

“Hehehe. Yes. The reason I called you and the elders of my religion here is to hear about what you’ve been through over the past year. Since you’ve been on a top-secret mission, most of the elders of the religion don’t even know what you’ve been doing.”

Ilmok smiled awkwardly at Cheonma’s words.

When I was asked to list all my accomplishments with my own mouth, I felt like I was being sold.

As if he had read the intentions of the others, Cheonma was the first to give him a chance.

“Yes. According to what this old man remembers, the first thing he did was to eliminate the Black Swordsmen of Goryang County?”

“Yes. After driving them out, I went to Goryang County to preach under the name of Mireukmyungyo.”

“I heard that he preached in a rather unique way.”

In response to Cheonma’s question, Ilmok told him about the various missionary methods he had used under the name of Mireukmyungyo.

The missionary methods, starting from ‘Do you know the way?’ and continuing with hymns.

As Ilmok’s story continued, Cheonma and Wi Jin-hak, who knew to some extent what he had been doing, would add their voices or make a fuss.

Of course, there were occasional signs of discomfort from those who were dissatisfied with the way he had been doing things.

“Oh, the Most High of All Demons. No matter how much you say you must hide your identity, hiding the name of the new religion and using the sinister name of the Maitreya Buddhism seems to go against the doctrine.”

However, before Ilmok could make any excuses, Cheonma and Wijinhak covered up Ilmok’s actions.

“In the end, what really matters is the doctrine. We just need to spread the doctrine of our new religion to the people and take care of them. Why should we be tied down by a mere name?”

So, the story of Ichimoku continued.

The story of how he conquered Nanju, established the first temple of the Maitreya school, and tricked Gaebong into using him as a worker.

The story of killing the traitor Gwigokja in Gongdongsan and taking care of the poor people of Pyeongnyanghyeon.

The story of how the religious education center responded to Haomen’s trickery.

The story of going to Sacheon, hearing news about Cheonma-bi-dong, stopping the conspiracy of the Blood Cult, and recovering the remains of the Bloody Heavenly Horse.

From a certain point on, no one was dissatisfied with the story.

It wasn’t just because of the protection of the Heavenly Horse.

‘Is that something that a newbie who just graduated from the Magic Academy can accomplish in just one year?’

It was because I was surprised to hear such an absurd story.

Those gathered at Cheonmajeon were listening to his story with the same feeling as when they were children listening to old stories from their elders.

And finally, when he reached the point where he killed Haomunju and incited the conflict between the Blood Cult and the Martial Arts Alliance, everyone gathered at Cheonmajeon was applauding Ilmok.

Ichimoku, who happened to have time to brag about himself, could only smile awkwardly at their applause.

And when their applause began to die down a little, Cheonma opened his mouth with a smile.

“Hahaha. Isn’t it truly amazing that you’ve accomplished so much in just one year?”

It might have seemed like an outrageous thing to praise one’s youngest disciple in front of others, but the things Ilmok had accomplished were so extraordinary that the thought of an outrageous thing never even occurred to him.

“That is indeed so, O Lord of Ten Thousand Horses.”

“It is the grace of the Supreme Being who recognized and discovered the talent of the youngest Confucius.”

“This can truly be called a blessing for our new religion.”

As they each spoke half-sincerely, half-flattery in their own way, Cheonma nodded and added.

“One, our youngest’s work is not yet over. In particular, he is currently expanding the influence of the Maitreya Buddhism in the Central Plains, so what the youngest has done in the Central Plains must absolutely not be known.”

“I will follow the will of the Most High.”

“Keep that in mind. I will keep that in mind.”

“I will never tell anyone what I heard here.”

Cheonma, who had finally given a warning, nodded at the oath of the elders and said.

“If you do, I think it would be a good idea to go back first since I have something to talk about with my youngest. If there are any who wish to talk privately with my youngest, please visit Pungamjeong within a few days. After a few days, the place will probably be empty.”

Whether he had really called them in to show off his youngest sibling, Cheonma sent out the senior members of the Shingyo sect first.

Perhaps, it was a place created to give a stamp of approval to high-ranking figures of the new religion.

Ichimoku had no time to calculate such political objectives at this time.

‘Damn. It was as expected.’

All that was on his mind was the last words his teacher had said.

He said that he would empty Pungamjeong within a few days.