‘We could have handled this much faster, but…’

At the surface, Geochin could be said to have wasted precious time. In reality, however, this was a part of a much bigger scheme!

No matter how hard he tried to harden his heart, Geochin couldn’t deny that he cowered a bit at the start. It wasn’t that hard to convince himself of taking his revenge on those who deserved it, but taking it to the next step and brandishing his sword against the entirety of Murim was no easy feat.

Although it was impossible for all Martial Artists to be innocent, especially with how much power they wielded, not every one of them had their hands dyed with the blood of normal people. In fact, a certain fraction just followed the trend in order not to be crushed themselves.

Geochin just had no way of knowing how many such Martial Artists he would have to kill before the rest would submit, so he couldn’t help questioning himself every now and then. However…

The moment he coldly accepted all and pushed forward to take the step he was afraid of, Geochin found himself to have permanently entered a completely different state of mind. It was an elusive experience that was hard to describe!

Like someone who had been dreading going under the cold shower, Geochin felt as if he was forcefully submerged in the deep cold sea. As his body hair stood to its end, his mind was infinitely refreshed to its sharpest…

The calculative mind that he was lacking was instantly realized as his senses felt stronger than ever. Under this immersion, every step that he had taken to this point was carefully thought out!

It might have seemed that this month-long break was for the sake of letting his shaky troops get some decent rest, but it was all just a ‘show of weakness’.

Rather than flaunting the strength that made it possible for him to conquer the Martial Families, Geochin’s actions emphasized the fact that he just had a lucky break and was on the edge of breaking apart.

‘They all had their eyes on the wounded dog anyway so they shouldn’t be alarmed. If anything, it should be the opposite.’

By purposefully picking the weakest prey and using the cowardly approach of applying pressure through a prolonged siege, Geochin demonstrated a deliberate lack of confidence. Although the greedy sects had no plans to attack first, this was bound to have made them let down their guard.

Letting the troops rest was just a bonus, the main target was to prepare the Great Sects to receive the incoming storm as lazily as possible.

On the other hand, with the addition of Mount Hua’s forces, not only had the Murim League received a boost, but they also became a much more delicious prey that no one would want to share.

Of course, this illusion was bound to be shed off at one point. However, by the time the Great Sects would finally realize that, it would already be too late for them to partner up against the dreadful threat…

Dong! Dong! Dong!

“Open up the gates!”

As three loud knocks reverberated through the metallic gates, a small crowd stood menacingly, awaiting the chance to rush in! A break might have been in their mind as they had grown weary from going from one battlefield to another, but after all of that waiting, they were beaming to get back to that!

“Who is it? Who dares to order people around at the gate of our Great Sect?!”

Dong!

The metallic gates were sprung open as a flood of sword intent poured out, the one to move out in response to the provocation was no small fry, but…

Swish!

“Long time no see, Elder Yang!”

Their small number didn’t mean that the intruders were weak either!

“What do you mean by this? Namgung Hyun!”

The one to meet the raging sword was none other than the 1st elder of the assimilated Namgung Family and Geochin’s ardent blade.

Swish! Thud!

“It’s as simple as you can see. Now that we have come, you only have one of two options. Join us, or die. You should be already aware of this, we announced that we would be coming to the whole world after all.”

The two swords clashed, but both sides showed no hint of backing down. They were saying their greetings just now, yet this had already become a battle to the death!

“You expect me to believe that nonsense? You may be bold enough to take over the world just like this, but that’s just being stupid.”

“Since you have no plans of backing down, then you must excuse me. We have to finish this quickly enough.”

“Rubb-“

Splatter!

Although the Elder named Yang moved his mouth to blurt out a retort, nothing came out of his mouth other than blood as his head separated from his body. It was only when life was being sucked out of him that the old man realized that two more Martial Artists as strong as Namgung Hyung were so close to him.

He was ganged up on! That was how one of the few Unrestrained Martial Artists lost his life within a few minutes…

“Elder Yang!”

An enraged bellow echoed through the whole sect as a majestic figure flew out to the gate. His face was flushed into a shade of deep red, and the veins on it threatened to explode, making him look like a demon straight out of hell.

“Geochin! I bet my life to protect you when everyone wanted to rip that fruit out of your throat, and yet this is how you repay me?”

“Let’s not get emotional now, Southern Edge Sect Master. We all know that what you did at that moment was only to relieve your guilty conscience. You felt bad for letting the Sword Sage die for everyone while you came out unscathed, and saying a few words for my sake made it so you can feel better. Couldn’t we say that the supposed transaction had already been concluded?”

Confidently walking out from the center of the intruding crowd, Geochin brandished his sword in the Sword King’s face, but no one took the initiative to attack, bringing the erupting battle to a temporary pause.

“You…”

“Besides, hadn’t you purposefully sent out your Elder while you silently waited inside to probe us out? Perhaps he might have not died that quickly if you had come out with him to welcome us… Well, he wouldn’t have had to bet on you if he had just chosen to join us though.”

The Sword King’s face was on the brink of explosion, but he still restrained himself from attacking despite Geochin jabbing at his character. It was as if… He was waiting for something!

“Sect Master!”

The remaining Sect Elders rushed forward to support their Master who had been afraid of meeting Elder Yang’s same fate had he stepped in to fight blindly. Now, however, he could no longer be outnumbered.

While this fight was unlikely to be as easy as every Great Sect expected it to be, the Sword King believed himself to have a pretty good chance of triumphing over, even if he had already lost an Elder!

‘I will have you make up for this!’

Although it seemed like he had screwed up by wasting time on words, Geochin had willingly gone along with the Southern Edge Sect Master’s attempts at stalling for time. After all…

‘As the Sword Emperor’s student, shouldn’t I at least be able to take care of a small Sword King?’