So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 355 : Preparation (5)

"Judging by Cheok Pae-myeong's attitude, he's already marked us as enemies. He'll probably do whatever it takes to find an excuse to act against us.""If that's the case, the North looks like the biggest danger zone." Il-mok nodded at Jin Hayeon's response. "If those guys start keeping tabs on our trade caravans, there's definitely a risk we'll get caught."

The route the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult used to travel between the Central Plains and the Western Regions ran along the Desert Route that cut through Xinjiang. To throw off the factions of the Central Plains, they'd taken a slightly roundabout way to skirt along the outer part of the Northern Steppe before crossing over the Tianshan Mountain Range.

If the enemy sent spies to watch even that grassland region, it would only be a matter of time before they noticed that the Maitreya Luminous Cult's trade caravan was crossing into Xinjiang.

"So, first things first, we need to tighten security around the merchant caravan. There might be spies sneaking into the caravan, or people tailing us from the shadows."

"I'll make sure to warn them. But what if they bypass the caravan altogether and try to sneak directly into the North?"

"That's already been taken care of to some extent, so don't worry too much about it."

As Jin Hayeon nodded at Il-mok's answer, Jeong Hyeon carefully chimed in. Even though she still stuttered and couldn't quite look people in the eye, Jeong Hyeon could now jump into conversations without too much trouble. "I-Is it because the n-northern nomads have become believers of the M-Maitreya Luminous Cult?"

"That's right. To be more specific, it's because the northern nomads live in tribal units with large gaps between their settlements. Any outsider passing through would stick out immediately."

"Oh... so since the n-nomads are now believers, if a s-suspicious outsider shows up, word would reach us p-pretty quickly."

As Il-mok nodded like a teacher praising a student with the right answer, Jeong Hyeon carefully asked her next question. "And if s-suspicious people do show up, what's the p-plan?"

At that question, Il-mok's face turned ice-cold. 

"The North is a desolate place, isn't it? Since there are massive gaps of distance between the nomad camps, it wouldn't be weird at all if a pack of bandits ended up killing them out there." 

In other words, they'd kill the spies and make it look like the work of bandits.

"Young Master, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but doesn't our Divine Cult lack the manpower to spy on and wipe out intruders all the way up North?"

"No need to worry about that either. There are already people operating in the North. We just leave it to them."

Il-mok had already written in his letter to Wi Jin-hak to entrust this matter to them in advance. Thinking back on it for a second, a small smirk crossed his face.

'Looks like Eldest Brother has really gotten the hang of bossing people around. To think he'd hand something like this off to that crazy old man.'

Hyeokryeon Seon-ah caught that smirk and asked, "Did something good come to mind?"

"Haha. I was just thinking about the man who's going to play the role of the bandit. Let’s just say, he's just a man who was born to play the part of a bandit."

***

Around the time Il-mok had just left the main headquarters in Xinjiang and Wi Jin-hak had officially appointed Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang as the Grand Teacher, a group of people passed through the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountain Range and entered the Northern Steppe.

They were dressed in black martial robes, and some of them wore masks carved in the likeness of the Four Heavenly Kings. Among those without masks, some had the appearance of Central Plains natives, while others bore the build and features of northern nomads.

The former were warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. The latter were people who had once been slaves. They had been captured by Muslims and dragged off to be sold as slaves before Il-mok swooped in to save them and somehow turned them into devout believers of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

Out of all the nomads getting "educated" at the Missionary Center, these guys were the most thoroughly brainwashed. Or simply put, they were the select few chosen for having the strongest faith in the doctrines of the Divine Cult.

The fifty or so people set out from the northern edge of the Tianshan Mountain Range and headed toward the nearest nomadic settlement. That land had once been territory ruled by the Oirat tribe, but had become a hotbed of tribal wars since Hyeokryeon Il-hwi killed Taragai. And the settlement these Heavenly Demon Divine Cult martial artists were marching on right now was one of the tough tribes that actually survived all that chaotic infighting.

As the group approached the settlement, the people inside scrambled into motion. Women and children ducked into the tents, while the young men grabbed their weapons and mounted their horses, with some already drawing their bows.

The Cult's group halted at a distance just outside effective arrow range. The man at the center who wore a scowling Four Heavenly Kings mask stepped forward and bellowed. "Bring out your strongest warrior! Let's see what you've got!!"

Despite the dozens of feet between them, his shout came through as clearly as if he'd yelled right in their ears. It was all because of the immense internal energy laced within that shout.

He was none other than Dokgo Ryong, the Head of the Dokgo Family.

When Wi Jin-hak entrusted the position of Grand Teacher to Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang, he mentioned that there was a separate task to entrust to Dokgo Ryong. And Dokgo Ryong was currently on his way to handle that very task entrusted to him by Wi Jin-hak. 

To put the fractured nomads under the banner of the Maitreya Luminous Cult.

Part of the goal was to absorb the nomads and build up their forces, but the main reason was that it'd be way easier to pull the wool over the Central Plains' eyes if these guys were parading around as Maitreya Luminous Cult believers.

And the Wi Jin-hak handed such a massive job to Dokgo Ryong was pretty straightforward.

Unlike the nomads that settled near the Central Plains, the nomads who settled at the foot of the Tianshan Mountain Range are as aggressive as hell.

The old Oirat tribe had been proof enough of that.

Because of that, Dokgo Ryong was basically handed a green ticket by Wi Jin-hak to wreak havoc and beat the nomads to submission. After that, they'd "reform" them using the mercy and teachings of the Maitreya Luminous Cult.

As expected of battle-hardened nomads that they were, Dokgo Ryong's shout got a reaction out of them, but not the one he wanted.

Aside from their initial surprised reaction, nobody actually stepped forward to his challenge. They just kept their bows trained on them, radiating the air of people who could kick off a fight at any second.

"Do you all have a death wish!!" 

Even when his second roar was laced with more internal energy than the first one, he still got zero response.

Just as a pissed-off Dokgo Ryong was about to order a charge—

"W-wait, please wait!!"

One of the nomad converts tagging along with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult screamed in broken Central Plains language.

"C-Central Plain. Language. They. Don’t understand.”

"Oh..."

It took a moment for Dokgo Ryong to realize his own blunder, and a dumb little sound escaped him. But then, he just threw his head back and burst into a booming laugh.

"Kuahahaha! Well then, you get up here and translate for me!"

The nomad convert stepped forward with a somewhat pained expression.

Once the nomad believer finished translating Dokgo Ryong's challenge, the men in the settlement murmured among themselves for a bit. Then, a middle-aged man rode forward on horseback.

"Kuhahahaha!"

Dokgo Ryong burst into a hearty laugh and charged straight at the man.

"Let's see if you can give me a decent fight!!"

Dokgo Ryong unleashed a ferocious swordplay, and the nomad warrior couldn't withstand the brutal force packed into every swing of that massive sword. In just three clean exchanges, he was knocked clean off his horse.

The man had known he was going to lose from the start. That thunderous shout alone had been more than enough to tell him how wide the gap was.

"Ugh... and what do you intend to do with us now?"

The man asked with an anxious expression, and the nomad convert hurried over to translate.

"Kuhahaha! From this point on, you will follow the teachings of our Maitreya Luminous Cult! Do that, and we'll share our teachings and our written language with you, and make sure you're fed!"

Those were surprisingly generous terms. But the man still asked warily, "Those are pretty words, but you're just going to work us like slaves, aren't you?"

It had to be said that even at the risk of death, he is still loyal to his tribe.

Dokgo Ryong immediately fired back at the man's question. "Are your ears broken? Or is your brain broken? When the hell did I ever say the word 'slave'?"

He then turned a sharp eye on the nomad convert doing the translating.

"You little punk. You aren't butchering the translation, are you?"

"Never!"

The flustered convert quickly turned back to the nomad warrior.

"You won't be made into slaves!"

"Then what happens if we refuse?"

Dokgo Ryong swung his greatsword from the north, then to the west.

"Then get the hell out of this land. From this point on, this land belongs to the Maitreya Luminous Cult!"

So even refusal wouldn't get them killed.

The voice and the attitude were terrifying, but the terms themselves were surprisingly merciful.

The nomadic man looked over at the convert.

"You sure you translated that correctly?"

"...Hah. This guy, that guy, everyone's a headache."

Unlike when Dokgo Ryong had been suspicious of him, the nomad believer just let out a heavy sigh and answered. "If you really can't bring yourself to believe it, then just pack up your tribe and leave right now as the esteemed one instructed. Just don't get any funny ideas about fighting back. You'll all be slaughtered."

As the man audibly gulped at the thinly veiled threat, the nomad believer threw in his own opinion on the matter. "Since we're fellow nomads, I'll say one more thing. These people are not hypocrites who say one thing and do another. That's exactly why we follow the Maitreya Luminous Cult ourselves."

The nomad man mulled it over for a moment, "Would it be alright if I discussed it with my people first before giving an answer?"

Dokgo Ryong laughed and answered generously, "Go right ahead! And if you want to die, feel free to choose resistance! I've been itching for a good bloodbath."

The convert acting as translator wisely decided to heavily censor the message.

"Ahem. He said take your time and discuss it thoroughly before making your choice."

The nomadic man gave a bow and returned to the settlement.

After half an hour or so of deliberation, he came back out and stepped forward.

"We will follow the Maitreya Luminous Cult."

"And here I was hoping for a proper fight."

"He says you made a splendid choice."

The nomad convert happily fed them a line that was completely different from what Dokgo Ryong had actually grumbled.

Following the man's lead, the Maitreya Luminous Cult's warriors entered the settlement and began handing out small portions of the rice and other supplies they'd brought.

On top of that, the nomad-born converts put to use everything they'd learned at the Missionary Hall. From singing hymns to teaching the doctrines, and then teaching them the language of the Central Plains.

The next day, they left behind a few nomad converts and a few warriors to watch over the settlement and set out again, taking with them a handful of warriors absorbed from the tribe.

They moved on to another settlement. Just like the first time, some tribes surrendered and got absorbed after Dokgo Ryong defeated their strongest warrior. Other tribes decided to pack up and head north or west rather than bow to the Maitreya Luminous Cult.

And some tribes, well...

They let their foolish pride get the better of them, only for the entire tribe to get sliced to pieces by Dokgo Ryong’s greatsword.

After advancing like that for several days, they started running short on people. It was because they had to leave a few nomadic converts behind in every tribe to handle the preaching, along with a few Heavenly Demon Divine Cult martial artists to protect them and keep an eye on the locals.

But it wasn't much of a problem.

They still had warriors drawn from the absorbed settlements fighting alongside Dokgo Ryong, and the reinforcements they'd been expecting arrived right on time.

"As expected of the Head of the Dokgo Family. I never imagined you'd have pushed this far already."

The reinforcements brought additional food supplies for the settlements they absorbed. Once they'd distributed the supplies and the new troops had joined up, Dokgo Ryong set off on the road again.

"Uahahaha! I really hope we run into some slightly tougher bastards who'll actually put up a real fight this time!"

He honestly looked more like a battle-crazed lunatic desperate for a fight rather than a guy trying to spread the good word of the Maitreya Luminous Cult, but Dokgo Ryong was absolutely loyal when it came to following the orders of Wi Jin-hak.

And so, he kept bulldozing dozens of tribes for quite some time.

That’s when he spotted a familiar face among the newly arrived reinforcements.

"Grandson! What are you doing here?!"

It was Dokgo Pae, Dokgo Ryong's eldest grandson. "Grandfather! I was sent here at the Cult Leader's orders. He said you've been entrusted with something important, so I should come assist you and learn from you while I'm at it!"

"Uahahaha! As expected, the Cult Leader truly is a man of great caliber!"

Dokgo Ryong laughed boisterously.

In reality, it had simply been Il-mok's suggestion that since they were already sending Dokgo Ryong on this "missionary mission," they might as well send along someone similar.

Il-mok had actually toyed with the idea of shipping out all three generations of the Dokgo Family, but since they couldn't just leave the main headquarters completely empty, they compromised by leaving only Dokgo Ryong's eldest son behind.

"Grandfather, the Cult Leader personally entrusted me with a letter to deliver to you. He said to make sure you received it."

"A letter from the Cult Leader. Let's have a look."

Dokgo Ryong held out his hand, and Dokgo Pae cheerfully pulled the letter from his chest and handed it over.

Dokgo Ryong read through the contents in full and let out a booming laugh, prompting Dokgo Pae to ask, "What does it say, Grandfather?"

"It says there's a huge chance the hypocrites from the Orthodox Faction are going to send spies around here pretty soon. So, his orders are to dress up like bandits and exterminate every last one of those bastards."

"Does that mean we finally get to bash some Orthodox hypocrite skulls in!?"

Seeing the pure joy plastered on Dokgo Pae’s face upon hearing the prospect of bashing some hypocrites' skulls, Dokgo Ryong gave a vigorous nod.

"That's right! Let's use this chance to quench our thirst with the blood of the Orthodox Faction bastards! Kuhahaha!!"

"Yes, Grandfather! Uahahaha!"                        

The grandfather and grandson locked eyes and erupted into manic laughter.

Anyone who saw them would have pegged them for bandits or mountain brigands without a second thought.