Chapter 566:
The Divine Strategist was looking at the situation with somewhat dazed eyes.
He understood it with his head.
The situation before his eyes was very simple. Wei Yan-ho was overwhelmingly stronger than Sa-ma, and because of that, he had killed Sa-ma without much difficulty and was now threatening Dok-ma.
The situation was simple enough that even a three-year-old child could clearly understand it. However, in Divine Strategist’s eyes, this situation didn’t look simple at all.
When the realm of possibility becomes reality, humans feel confusion.
And Divine Strategist was human too.
‘For Sa-ma to fall so easily…’
Divine Strategist’s eyes turned toward the fallen Sa-ma. The fact that the corpse lying face-down on the ground, growing cold, had been called Sa-ma in life bewildered Divine Strategist.
Sa-ma wasn’t immortal either.
No matter how much renown that man had gained during past wars, no matter how strong he had been, as long as he was human, he couldn’t avoid death. If he met someone stronger, he could be buried in the wilderness at any time—that was the fate of a martial artist.
What bewildered Divine Strategist wasn’t Sa-ma’s death. The reason Divine Strategist was bewildered was that Sa-ma’s death had been too futile.
He had been defeated too easily, without being able to show anything worthy of his reputation. That Sa-ma, no less.
“……”
A sticky unpleasant feeling tormented Divine Strategist. The sight of the world changing was always accompanied by this sense of discord. Right now, before his very eyes, all the order that had formed the martial world until now was collapsing.
‘And I too will have to accept this fact.’
He had thought Wei Yan-ho would someday become the greatest under heaven. Given his abilities and growth rate, that wasn’t a possibility but a clear reality.
Just as a chick grows up to become a chicken someday.
But Wei Yan-ho had surpassed the time Divine Strategist had expected. Right now, no martial artist in the Central Plains who could approach Wei Yan-ho’s majesty came to mind.
Whether Divine Strategist acknowledged it or not, Wei Yan-ho already had one foot in the position of the greatest under heaven. When this war ended, everyone under heaven would acknowledge him as the greatest under heaven.
In Divine Strategist’s mind, the power structure of the martial world was being rewoven. All his plans began to be rearranged around Wei Yan-ho. In the end, a strategist had no choice but to use available resources.
The martial prowess Wei Yan-ho had shown now was overwhelming enough to push aside even Kwon Geuk-jo.
“Hmm.“
At the same time, Divine Strategist knew this wasn’t entirely good news.
‘This is going to be quite troublesome.’
Of all people, Wei Yan-ho.
The situation he had earnestly hoped for while also hoping it wouldn’t come before he retired had finally occurred.
Divine Strategist let out a deep sigh, and Dok-ma entered his sight.
‘Farewell.’
He didn’t think Dok-ma could handle Wei Yan-ho when even Sa-ma couldn’t.
That terrifying Dok-ma looked like a mouse before a cat. Divine Strategist let out a hollow laugh at his own cunning. To think that Dok-ma, who had been so frightening, looked so small.
‘Perhaps this war is more than I thought…’
That was the moment.
Dok-ma, who had been conversing with Wei Yan-ho, began to swell up all over his body. Seeing that sight, Divine Strategist’s eyes bulged as if they would tear.
“N-no!”
His head didn’t understand. But his body understood this situation. Something was happening! That Dok-ma was doing something right now.
Then came the explosion.
KWAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
With an ear-splitting sound of heaven collapsing and earth splitting, Dok-ma’s body was torn to pieces and scattered in all directions. But there was no time to pay attention to that body. From where Dok-ma had exploded, dangerous-looking green poison smoke began swirling like a whirlwind.
“That!”
Divine Strategist’s face instantly turned pale.
The poison smoke spread out. A huge green cloud was covering and spreading over the main camp. What would happen to those touched by that poison smoke was as clear as fire.
“Stop it!”
But how?
How could they stop such a thing? How could they block poison smoke spreading on the wind? That wasn’t something humans could do.
But they had to stop it. This was Luoyang. The people living here alone numbered a million. If that green smoke covered Luoyang?
At the unimaginable number of casualties that came to mind, Divine Strategist rushed forward in horror. But Wei Jeong-han, noticing his expression, threw his body and tackled Divine Strategist.
“You must flee, Lord Strategist!”
“Th-that…”
Divine Strategist unconsciously let out a moan. He was too rational a person to give in to excitement and act recklessly.
‘There’s nothing I can do.’
Even without consciously thinking about it, the calculation came naturally. In this situation, there was nothing he could do.
He had no ability to block the spreading poison smoke. Even if he had the ability to block that smoke, the moment Divine Strategist made contact with that poison smoke, he would melt into a handful of blood.
‘What kind of demonic art is that?’
The Demonic Cult had countless bizarre and monstrous demonic arts. In the past, when fighting wars, how much trouble they had caused with their demonic arts that transcended common sense. Cases of severed limbs being reattached were common, and he had even seen cases of corpses moving again.
But none of those demonic arts had bewildered Divine Strategist as much as the storm of poison smoke visible before his eyes now.
“We must retreat!”
Wei Jeong-han dragged Divine Strategist away. Before they knew it, the poison smoke had approached right in front of them. Looking at the poison smoke so dense that nothing inside could be seen made his whole body break out in goosebumps.
“Damn cult bastards!”
That’s how it was.
There was no way those bastards would die so easily.
Divine Strategist ground his teeth and gave his body to Wei Jeong-han’s pulling hands.
“Hiiiiiick!“
Jang-il also followed behind Wei Jeong-han in horror.
“Run! Run, you bastards! If you get caught up in that, you literally won’t even be able to collect bones!”
Because it would all melt away.
Get caught up in that poison?
‘Even Poison King couldn’t endure it!’
Though the person himself would throw a fit if he heard it, if swept up in that poison smoke, even Tang Cheon-gun would turn into a handful of blood. Just the poison energy felt from the poison smoke spreading behind them made the back of his neck tingle.
“W-we’re going to die!”
Musan also seemed to know the danger of that poison smoke as he was running with his soles practically bursting. This seemed to be the first time seeing that monk run so earnestly.
With veins bulging on his smooth forehead and his face straining with all his might as he ran, even in this urgent situation, it was almost comical.
“Amitabha! Damn it!”
Whether he cursed or chanted Buddhist invocations, it would be nice if he did just one of the two, but right now it seemed like nothing would reach Musan’s ears.
“Waaaaah! What the hell is that!”
Peng Dao-ji was also running as if his feet would break. Zhuge Mun-in, clinging to Peng Dao-ji’s shoulder like a leech, looked back and clicked his tongue.
“This isn’t an ordinary matter…”
“Let go, you bastard!”
“For someone who prides himself on being a knight-errant to shake off someone with slow legs and go on, this also isn’t an ordinary matter.”
“Your mouth is still alive!”
Peng Dao-ji shouted, but Zhuge Mun-in showed no sign of excitement at all.
‘Hmm.‘
His eyes were coldly observing the situation.
“This is dangerous, Lord Strategist.”
Zhuge Mun-in, dangling from Peng Dao-ji, calmly spoke to Divine Strategist who was being dragged along by Wei Jeong-han.
“As the poison smoke spreads to cover a wider area, its toxicity should become diluted. But right now there’s no sign of it becoming diluted at all. If it spreads like this, we don’t know how many people will die.”
“I think so too.”
“We need countermeasures, but…”
Zhuge Mun-in scratched his cheek with his remaining hand.
“I can’t particularly think of any countermeasures. What about you, Lord Strategist?”
“I’m the same.”
Divine Strategist let out a “hmm” and rubbed his chin.
“We need to come up with a plan…”
Jang-il looked at the two men’s conversation and twisted his face.
‘They’re really putting on airs!’
What kind of situation was this that they were having a conversation while maintaining their dignity like that! This is why scholars!
“Wait!”
At that moment, Divine Strategist shouted loudly.
“Yan-ho! Where’s Wei Yan-ho!”
“Yes?”
“Yan-ho must have been swept up in that poison smoke!”
“That would be the case.”
“It was a bit difficult to avoid.”
Wei Jeong-han and Jang-il looked at each other and nodded. Seeing this, Divine Strategist clutched his chest as if his insides were bursting.
“You peaceful people in this world! Would there be anyone in this world who could remain fine after being swept up in that poison smoke!”
“There wouldn’t be anyone in the world.”
“But that guy doesn’t particularly seem like he’s from this world either…”
The head of Guangdong Wei Family and Little Beggar of Beggar’s Sect were breathing in perfect sync. Divine Strategist’s insides burned twice as much.
“You peaceful people in this world! Don’t you know how terrifying that poison smoke is! That’s the poison that Dok-ma accumulated over his entire lifetime.”
“It was definitely pretty strong.”
“Not Poison King, but Dok-ma! That Dok-ma released all the poison he had accumulated over his lifetime at once, so how terrifying would that be!”
“That’s something Poison King grandfather would be quite hurt to hear.”
“Definitely hurt… Who am I talking to right now?”
Divine Strategist’s eyes widened as he turned his head. Before he knew it, Wei Yan-ho was running alongside him, matching his pace.
“You! You… You! When did you get here!”
“Just now.”
“Weren’t you swept up in that?”
“I was swept up in it, but I roughly got out. Wow, that poison… was no joke. My body was stinging and I had a hard time.”
Wei Yan-ho joked around while brushing off his clothes.
“Don’t brush it off!”
“We’re going to die!”
Every time he brushed his clothes, green smoke puffed up from Wei Yan-ho’s clothing. Seeing that sight, everyone covered their mouths and turned their heads away.
‘Ah, really! This crazy bastard!’
‘He’s gotten crazier than before!’
But Divine Strategist was looking at something else at this moment.
“Wei Yan-ho!”
“Yes?”
“Can you stop it?”
“What?”
“That poison smoke. If that poison smoke spreads like this, all the people of Luoyang will die! You must stop it by any means necessary!”
“That’s truly regrettable, but there are things that are possible and impossible in this world. Honestly, what could I do about that? The only thing to do is pray that they go without pain. Fortunately, there’s a monk here too.”
Divine Strategist foamed at the mouth. No matter how much of a strategist of the age he was, he was still too early to deal with Wei Yan-ho. There was someone else who should deal with Wei Yan-ho.
“Son!”
“Yes?”
“If you handle that, we’ll rest here for three days before going to Wuhan! I won’t say a word or lift a finger no matter what you do! Do as you please!”
“…Really?”
“That’s right, you bastard! I’ll do whatever you ask!”
Wei Yan-ho turned his body while still in his running posture. Then he jumped high up from that spot.
Wei Yan-ho, who had leaped above the acrid poison smoke that filled the entire main camp of Righteous Martial Alliance, shone white in the sunlight.
“Don’t worry! I’ll handle it all! Ehihihihihit!“
Falling toward the poison smoke from midair, Wei Yan-ho shouted loudly. Seeing his heroic appearance, Divine Strategist smiled contentedly and said:
“…What a variety of nonsense.”
It was exactly the right evaluation.
