Shortly after, not a single Four Evils Alliance warrior remained standing around . After felling over thirty warriors in an instant, I approached the one I had deliberately left without striking his vital points.
"Get up. I know you're not dead."
"......."
"Not getting up? Will you still not get up even if I do this?"
I lightly poked the warrior lying face-down with the tip of my sword, not too deeply.
"Ugh! Argh!"
The warrior finally got up, clutching his buttocks in pain from being stabbed by the sword. As soon as he stood up, he looked around and realized that he was the only survivor. He then knelt before and spoke. His shoulder had been pierced by my sword earlier, and blood was still trickling from his buttocks where I had just stabbed him, but his movents were swift and precise, perhaps driven by the will to survive.
"P-please spare , Great Hero!"
"That depends on how you act. Are you willing to cooperate with ?"
"Of course! Please let cooperate. I'll do anything that can be of help!"
I almost let out a laugh without realizing it. I wondered how a person could be so shaless and unprincipled, but I thought that with his life hanging in the balance, it was understandable. After all, the Four Evils Alliance warriors were better seen as an alliance of thugs with so martial power rather than as an alliance of martial artists, so most of them probably lacked pride as martial artists.
"You said it earlier, right? That the Martial Alliance wouldn't be able to intervene in this matter. What did you an by that?"
I spoke in a serious tone. I was wondering if perhaps there was a spy from the Four Evils Alliance hidden within the Martial Alliance, which is why they were so confident. However, what ca from his mouth was fortunately better news.
"Th-that's because the Four Evils Alliance is blocking all communications going out of Sichuan Province."
"Blocking them?"
"Yes. We can't help what happens inside, but there are experts of unknown origin surrounding Sichuan Province. So the Nine Great Sects and the Martial Alliance warriors are being prevented from entering Sichuan Province, and conversely, the warriors inside Sichuan Province are being controlled so they can't leave."
"Why?"
"It's so that outside warriors don't co in and learn about the current situation in Sichuan Province, and also so that the warriors inside Sichuan Province can't go seek help from the orthodox martial world."
I felt as if two questions I had been unable to solve until now were finally being answered. Why didn't the orthodox martial world properly recognize the fact that the Sichuan martial world fell into the hands of the Four Evils Alliance in my past life? And even if the Sichuan martial world had strong pride, why didn't they ask for help from the orthodox martial world when things reached this state?
'It was all because the Four Evils Alliance controlled all the paths through which information could flow. And the geographical characteristics of Sichuan Province, where there are only a few places to enter, must have played a role as well.'
I was extrely fortunate. If I had revealed myself as a Wudang warrior from the start and tried to enter here, the Four Evils Alliance would have done everything in their power to block my approach. I suddenly realized that asking the Eungnam rchant Guild and Wang Hyeon-seong to quietly enter here had been a good choice.
"Then wait. What about carrier pigeons? You can't block those, can you?"
"We have a way to block carrier pigeons as well. We've stationed professional falconers around Sichuan Province who raise hawks that eat carrier pigeons, and they catch all the carrier pigeons leaving here. So carrier pigeons can't get out either."
My expression crumpled without my realizing it. If what this man said was true, then all the carrier pigeons I had sent so far were likely intercepted midway. That ant I couldn't count on support from the Martial Alliance. My original plan was to have the Ei Sect hold out until the end while warriors sent from the Martial Alliance would rescue them. It seed I would need to significantly revise that plan.
"How long have you been guarding the Ei monks so they can't co down the mountain?"
"I haven't been here long. It's been less than ten days."
"Less than ten days?"
"About a month ago, the Ei monks suddenly began desperately trying to escape from here. So with the existing personnel, we couldn't completely guard against them, and I was drafted from the main force."
"A month ago?"
That would be around the ti when Senior Brother Un Jeong and Senior Brother Un Mi reached the Ei Sect. In other words, after Senior Brother Un Jeong arrived, the Ei Sect began moving differently from usual, and thanks to that, there was personnel reinforcent. It seed my senior brothers were doing well.
I felt relieved inwardly and spoke to him.
"By the way, you said you ca from the main force?"
"Yes, that's right!"
"Then I have more questions for you."
"Please ask anything!"
"But not now."
Smack!
I struck the back of his neck and knocked him unconscious, then stopped the bleeding from the shoulder I had pierced and slung him over my shoulder. Behind , people who appeared to be Ei monks were watching my fight without running away.
"You must be Ei monks, right? I am Unhwi of the Wudang Sect."
Then one of them removed a large hat. As I expected, the face of a plain-looking woman appeared from beneath it.
"Are you a Wudang warrior?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Then do you know who the Wudang Taoists who ca to our Ei Sect are?"
"You must be referring to Senior Brother Un Jeong and Senior Brother Un Mi. I am their junior."
"Ah...! I see. Please follow !"
"Yes. Thank you."
The mont I heard the nas Un Jeong and Un Mi, her face brightened. It was an expression from which I could imdiately tell what kind of treatnt my senior brothers were receiving here. It seed that my senior brothers were truly doing well here, and thanks to that, the Ei monks also thought well of them.
"Ah, wait... but will you be bringing that man with you?"
An Ei monk who was about to run sowhere rembered sothing and turned back, pointing to the Four Evils Alliance warrior on my shoulder.
"Yes. It seems there are still many things I need to hear from this man."
"Ah.... I understand. Please follow ."
Though her expression was sowhat reluctant, she didn't continue to object since I said I would take him with . We imdiately moved sowhere. As I moved, I looked around to see if anyone was following us, and fortunately, it didn't seem like anyone was pursuing us.
"But the guards seem looser than I expected?"
I sidled up next to the Ei monk and said that. She imdiately responded.
"It's probably because similar operations to ours are being carried out at three or four other places around the sa ti."
"Simultaneously? Ah...! So it's a tactic to disperse the enemy's forces."
"Yes. After all, the number of Four Evils Alliance warriors isn't infinite, so personnel must concentrate to block those trying to break through the defense line. We're using that gap in concentration to break through."
The Ei warrior explaining to was sowhat thin, but didn't appear to lack energy or vitality from not eating at all. It ant that after Senior Brother Un Jeong and Senior Brother Un Mi arrived, they weren't starving anymore.
"How is the condition of the Ei monks now? Is there still a food shortage?"
"It's definitely not abundant by any ans. Even though we're procuring food like this, with just a small number of people going back and forth, it's not enough for many people to eat their fill. On top of that, we're giving more food to the elderly monks and young novices, so not everyone is eating their fill. But still...."
She smiled and continued.
"Since the Wudang Taoists arrived, we're not going hungry anymore. That's why we have the strength to move like this."
"That's fortunate."
My words of relief were sincere. Now that I knew support from the Martial Alliance might not co, I had to change my plan. The Ei Sect had now changed from a position of waiting for rescue to one of having to defeat the Four Evils Alliance warriors themselves. But if they were all starving and had no strength, I couldn't even formulate that strategy. Fortunately, they said they could move to this extent, so it seed I could think through the most efficient and reasonable strategy together with my senior brothers.
"This way, please."
After following the Ei monk up the mountain for a while, a massive gorge ca into view. And in the distance, in the middle of the gorge, I could see a temple. That must be the Ei Sect. It was truly a natural fortress as they said. I could imdiately understand why the Four Evils Alliance had given up trying to capture it. Perhaps if they deployed thousands or tens of thousands of warriors, they could annihilate the Ei Sect, but if they did, the Four Evils Alliance would suffer too great a loss. Since the Sichuan Tang Family wouldn't stay idle if their forces were weakened, they probably wanted to preserve their strength as much as possible.
"Please wait here for a mont."
Soon after we reached the gate of the Ei Sect, the Ei monk told to wait and went inside with other monks.
"Hmm...."
I pressed the acupoint of the Four Evils Alliance warrior who was trying to get up and knocked him unconscious once more, then waited quietly. After a very short ti had passed.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
From inside the Ei Sect, I began to hear very brisk footsteps. And it wasn't just one person—it was the sound of two people running. Just from hearing that sound, I felt like I could guess who they were.
Creak!
Soon the gate opened wide, and as I expected, two familiar faces greeted .
"Unhwi!"
"Unhwi. You ca!"
"Senior Brothers. It seems you were doing very well. You must have worked hard?"
They were Senior Brother Un Jeong and Senior Brother Un Mi. Perhaps they had rushed here urgently upon hearing that I had arrived, as their clothes were disheveled, but they didn't seem to care at all.
"Yeah. We were doing fine without you."
"We just did what you told us to do, but we were still making an effort."
There was pride in their expressions. They were the ones who had co here when the Ei Sect was at its worst mont and had normalized things to this extent. They had every right to feel proud.
"Co in. But who is that man on your shoulder?"
"A Four Evils Alliance warrior. He seems to know quite a lot, so I brought him along to extract so information."
"Good. You did well. Let's lock him in the prison cell over there and first go et the Sect Leader."
"Yes, let's do that."
Senior Brother Un Jeong led inside as if this place were his own sect. I followed behind Senior Brother Un Jeong with a light heart. I wondered if perhaps I might be able to save the Ei Sect even more easily than I had expected.
(End of Chapter)
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