Chapter 105
“Well then, let’s start the discussion in earnest. As everyone has already heard, the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance have been confirmed to be under the Nine Celestial Demons Sect,” the Shaolin Temple’s Great Monk Gong Seon began. “Henceforth, the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance are to be known as common enemies of murim. If anyone has any opinion on how we should handle them, please speak freely.”
“Isn't it only natural for us to punish them?” the Hebei Peng Family’s Peng Woo-Cheol asked. His comment befitted the simple-minded and aggressive characteristics of the Hebei Peng Family.
“Of course, we will. However, we have to come up with a plan to deal with their forces, which are scattered throughout the Central Plains.”
“Do you perhaps have an idea in mind, Elder Zhuge?” Woo-Cheol asked. He had always thought none could best the Great Zhuge Family in a battle of intelligence.
“Haha, I’m not sure. One of our options is to let the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families each choose a domain,” the Great Zhuge Family’s Zhuge Long said. “We would then punish any forces of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance that we would find within our respective jurisdictions. However, this plan comes with an issue with fairness, so it’s not that simple to execute.”
The Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance were randomly scattered throughout the Central Plains. Hence, if the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families proceeded with the presented plan, some of them would likely have to face relatively more bandits and thieves.
Furthermore, the strongholds and river fortresses varied in combat capacity. Those who would be put in charge of taking down the relatively stronger strongholds and river fortresses would suffer greater damage than the others. Considering neither the Nine Prominent Sects nor the Seven Great Families would want to incur unnecessary damage, some of them were bound to be dissatisfied if their forces were allocated according to their respective regions without taking the enemy forces in that area into consideration.
“How about we give the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families each a region that has the strongest concentration of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance’s forces?” Baek Mu-Gun put forward his opinion.
Among the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin, the strongholds with the strongest combat forces would be the ones ruled by the Lulin Heavenly King and the remaining six members of the Twelve Commanders of Lulin. Meanwhile, the river fortresses of the Changjiang Dragon King, the Changjiang Shark King, and the remaining eight members of the Ten Dragons of Changjiang were relatively stronger than the other river fortresses of the Changjiang Waterway Alliance.
With seven mountain strongholds and ten river fortresses, they would have seventeen total regions to allocate. The clans of the Nine Prominent Sects, Seven Great Families, and Zhejiang Martial Alliance could each take charge of one of those regions.
The representatives of the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families seemed open to Mu-Gun’s idea.
“Three of those places are led by Absolute Realm masters. Wouldn’t the clans in charge of them be dissatisfied?” Zhuge Long expressed his doubts instead of opposing Mu-Gun’s opinion.
“Why don’t we draw lots for fairness’ sake?”
“Draw lots?”
“Yes. If we decide on which three clans will take on those Absolute Realm masters through a lottery system, won’t anyone agree with it even if they were chosen?”
“Interesting.”
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. This way, no one would go back on their word later.”
“What should we do with the other mountain strongholds and river fortresses?”
“Except for the seventeen I mentioned earlier, the rest won’t really amount to much. Though it hasn’t been confirmed, I believe the ones connected to the Nine Celestial Demons Sect are only the core mountain strongholds and river fortresses. Once we get rid of them, we likely won’t have to worry about the rest for now. If you are still in doubt, we can simply divide the remaining mountain strongholds and river fortresses evenly and deal with them as well.”
“That’s pretty clear cut. I think it’s a good idea. What does everyone else think?”
“I agree with you.”
Most of the representatives agreed with Mu-Gun’s opinion. The Sichuan Tang Clan’s Tang Jin-Ho did not like Mu-Gun’s snobbishness, but he had no choice but to stay silent since he did not have a better idea. With Mu-Gun’s suggestion accepted, they soon began to determine which mountain strongholds and river fortresses each clan would be in charge of.
As Mu-Gun suggested, the lottery system they adopted was drawing lots. In a covered jar, they put bamboo plaques with the names of the core mountain strongholds and river fortresses. The representatives would then each put their hand in the jar and take out a bamboo plaque, and whatever name was on it would be the place they’d be in charge of dealing. They decided the drawing order to go counter-clockwise.
The three clans that failed to join the meeting would be in charge of the remaining three locations written on the bamboo plaques still in the jar. They would likely have complaints, but attending the meeting was their responsibility.
Having decided that the order should go counter-clockwise, the representatives began drawing lots. On the bamboo plaque Mu-Gun picked, the name of the Dragon Tooth Stronghold, which was located in Mount Dabie, Henan Province, was written. The Dragon Tooth Stronghold’s chief was the Lulin Heavenly King.
The Lulin Heavenly King was the most powerful of the Three Kings of Lulin, and the Dragon Tooth Stronghold was also quite strong. Most small and medium-sized martial art clans would be annihilated if they faced off against them. Not only did he get one of the three strongest enemy forces, but he happened to pick the most burdensome of them as well. Mu-Gun let out a sigh. He couldn’t blame anyone but his own unlucky hand.
Like Mu-Gun, two other representatives were unfortunate enough to draw the river fortress ruled by an Absolute Realm master. Yuk Man-Jong, an elder of the Zongnan Sect, drew the Changjiang Dragon King’s Dongting Fortress, and Ximen Jiong of the Great Ximen Family drew the Changjiang Shark King’s Black Water Fortress.
***
Later that evening, someone knocked on Mu-Gun’s door.
“Who is it?” Mu-Gun asked, woken up by the suspicious knock.
“I bring news from the Heavenly Secret Hall.”
“Come in.”
Mu-Gun let the man in as soon as he learned about the man’s identity. The man seemed to be in his early thirties and, judging from his clothes, a martial artist from the Wuchang Sword Family. The Heavenly Secret Hall had planted warriors in each martial art clan of murim and used them as sources of information. The Wuchang Sword Family was no exception.
“I was asked to hand this to you.”
The martial artist took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Mu-Gun.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll take my leave now.”
The man quickly left Mu-Gun’s room, thinking staying any longer would only heighten the chance of him being caught. Now left alone, Mu-Gun took the letter out of the envelope and read it. It mentioned that the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin’s core martial arts masters were gathering at Mount Dabie, Henan Province, and the core martial artists of the Changjiang Waterway Alliance were gathering at the Dongting Fortress in Hunan Province.
“Are they aiming for the Shaolin Temple and Great Ximen Family?” Mu-Gun guessed.
The Shaolin Temple’s party had to pass by Mount Dabie to return to Mount Song, and the Great Ximen Family had to pass by Dongting Lake to reach Changsha. The fact that the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance were gathering at Mount Dabie and Dongting Lake respectively most likely meant they were aiming for the Shaolin Temple and Great Ximen Family.
If they used this to their advantage, they could potentially eliminate the core masters of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and Changjiang Waterway Alliance. However, time was of the essence. Mu-Gun immediately woke up the representatives of the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families.
“Why bring everyone together this late in the evening? What’s the emergency?” the Sichuan Tang Family’s Jin-Ho asked, clearly discontented.
“We detected unusual movements from the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance, so I was forced to wake everyone up.”
“Unusual movements?”
In response to Namgung Ho’s question, Mu-Gun informed them of the movements of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance.
“Are you certain?”
“It’s information from a trusted source.”
“I can’t seem to understand this. We’re far from the Baek Sword Sect’s headquarters, so how did you obtain such information, Young Patriarch Baek?” Jin-Ho expressed his doubts. Acquiring key information regarding areas outside his clan’s territory was far harder than it sounded unless the Baek Sword Sect had an information network spread across the entire Central Plains region.
Curious, the other representatives waited for Mu-Gun’s answer.
“I requested this information from the Undern Sect.”
“The Undern Sect? It’s honestly hard to believe that the Undern Sect could get such high-level information.”
“I thought the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance would certainly make a move once it had become known that the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families were having a meeting. Hence, I commissioned the Undern Sect to monitor those organizations’ movements. As per my request, the Undern Sect kept a close eye on them and eventually caught a glimpse of their covert movements.”
“If the Undern Sect had kept a close eye on them, they would have certainly detected those two organizations’ movements,” Zhuge Long said, convinced. He then continued, “You have amazing insight, Young Patriarch Baek. To think you even prepared countermeasures for that.”
“I’m flattered to receive your praise.”
“Anyway, if the information Young Patriarch Baek obtained is true, that means the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance are likely targeting the members of the Shaolin Temple and the Great Ximen Family, both of whom would be returning to their homes after this meeting.” Zhuge Long and Mu-Gun shared the same thoughts.
“We can’t just sit still and watch that happen, can we?”
“That’s a given. Rather, this could become a good opportunity for us. If we handle this properly, we might be able to wipe out all of their core forces.”
“The problem is that doing that won’t be as easy as it sounds. It would be difficult to handle the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and Changjiang Waterway Alliance’s core martial art masters all at once,” Elder Yeong Ho-In from the Mount Hua Sect said, expressing his concerns.
“Quite the contrary, I think there isn’t much to worry about,” the Great Ximen Family’s Ximen Jiong refuted. “The Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin only have one of the Three Kings and half of the Twelve Commanders left. The Changjiang Waterway Alliance have many martial art masters in their ranks, but they only have two Absolute Realm masters and eight Upper Peak Realm masters. On the other hand, we have seven Absolute Realm masters and nine Upper Peak Realm masters. If we split up our forces properly, we will not fall behind in power at all.”
Among the members at the Wuchang meeting, the Shaolin Temple’s Great Monk Gong Seon, the Wudang Sect’s Elder Hyeon Myung, the Great Namgung Family’s Namgung Ho, the Great Huangfu Family’s Huangfu Jian, the Hebei Peng Family’s Peng Woo-Cheol, the Baek Sword Sect’s Baek Mu-Gun, and the Nine Dragons Fist Hwang Rei were Absolute Realm masters. They also had nine Upper Peak Realm masters. In terms of power alone, they were more than enough to overwhelm the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance.
“ Elder Zhuge isn’t wrong if we’re only considering our forces alone,” Mu-Gun said. “However, we also have to think about the Nine Celestial Demons Sect, which has control over the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin and the Changjiang Waterway Alliance. We don’t know what would happen if the Nine Celestial Demons Sect dispatched their martial art masters as well.”
“Hmm, I did not think of that.”
“Why don’t we focus on defeating one, then? Instead of dividing the people here, let’s just take down one of their forces first. That would allow us to deal with the enemy no matter how many demonic practitioners the Nine Celestial Demons Sect deploys,” Zhuge Long suggested.
“That’s a great idea. What do you think, Young Patriarch Baek?” Ximen Jiong asked.
“I think it’s a good idea as well. However, be it the Seventy-Two Strongholds of Lulin or the Changjiang Waterway Alliance, we have to ensure that we finish them before they notice and retreat.”
“In that respect, then it would be better to attack the forces of the Changjiang Waterway Alliance that have gathered in Dongting Lake first. It would take us only two days to reach Dongting Lake, and at least five days to reach Mount Dabie. ”
“I agree with Elder Zhuge.”
“I do as well.”
With all the representatives agreeing with Elder Zhuge’s suggestion, they decided to attack the Changjiang Waterway Alliance first. However, that in itself wouldn’t be easy. It would take several days to locate the Dongting Fortress within the wide Dongting Lake, which would be enough time for their enemy to catch wind of their plan and run away. For this to work, they would have to lure out the martial arts masters of the Changjiang Waterway Alliance.
Hence, Zhuge Long came up with another plan—a fairly simple one. The Great Ximen Family’s members would act as bait, making it seem as if they were the only ones on the move. Once the Changjiang Waterway Alliance’s martial arts masters had been lured out, the Nine Prominent Sects and Seven Great Families’ martial artists would come out of hiding and immediately make a sweeping arrest.
Upon reaching an agreement, the martial arts masters of the Nine Prominent Sects and the Seven Great Families carried the plan out the next day. Without caring about being tracked down or their identities being exposed, the Great Ximen Family members boarded a ship going from Wuchang to Yueyang. Afterward, the others snuck into the ship by hiding in the cargo loaded in it.
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