Volcanic Age

Chapter 250: It's Darkest Under the Lamp (2)

"Finally."

The Dark Heavens Association Lord's voice was filled with satisfaction.

"That annoying bastard is dead."

Zhou Xuchuan.

Just hearing his name made him angry. But now, a smile crept onto his lips as he received news of the death of the bastard who had caused endless trouble.

"Blessed Existence. You've worked hard."

"It was nothing. I just did what was necessary," Blessed Existence replied with a bow.

"As expected of the brain of the Dark Heavens."

Blessed Existence always made plans as if he could see the future.

When the Dark Heavens Association Lord first heard the plan, he had his doubts.

The plan had been to boldly expose Avaricious Wolf and make their move, approaching Hong Gao and convincing him to form a cooperative relationship.

"Once someone sets aside their suspicions and looks elsewhere, deceiving them isn't difficult. In the case of the Divine Monk's disciple, he was so arrogant and blinded by the honor of the Shaolin Temple that it wasn't difficult to convince him."

It was a plan easier said than done. If they failed, they would have severe losses.

If suspicions about the Poison Dragon were confirmed, the Righteous Faction's movements would be severely limited.

"However, it's unfortunate that his body wasn't found."

"It doesn't matter. Avaricious Wolf poisoned him with Extreme Formless Poison. He confirmed that his heart was destroyed, even carved out a hole in his chest. Not even a god could survive that. I understand your caution, but there's still work to be done. Focus on that."

"I will follow your orders."

"I'll inform Destructive Soldier. In the meantime, tell Pure Faith and Warped Valor to proceed with their plans, making sure that there aren't any problems."

The Dark Heavens Association, which had defeated its enemy, spread its wings that had been folded for so long.

"..."

Blessed Existence nodded in agreement but was still lost in thought.

Yes. Common sense tells us that he couldn't have survived. He was only in the Harmony Realm. I'm just overthinking it.

The rumors that had shaken up the Central Plains murim had spread even to the Frontier. Even the Southern Jungles, which had driven out the major tribes, had become restless. ℟ἈΝȯВĚṥ

"What?" Ye Li, the Toho of Qinghua who had recently fought against the powerful tribes of the Southern Jungles and was gradually expanding his territory, shouted.

"The Hero has passed away?"@@@@

"That's right."

Yuan Cai's expression was grim.

The Qinghua region had grown a lot thanks to their subjugation of the major tribes. All that was thanks to Zhou Xuchuan.

Although it wasn't as focused on reciprocation as the Central Plains, the Southern Jungles also placed considerable importance on returning one's debts.

Ye Li hadn't forgotten this favor.

"Before you left, I told you to ask for help whenever you needed it..."

Ye Li muttered as if he was truly sorry for the loss.

"Is revenge possible?"

"It's impossible. That evil demon is no longer of this world, and the Demon Cult that had ordered the killing is based in Xinjiang. If they were in Yunnan or Guangxi, we might have somehow been able to dispatch our troops secretly, but anything further to the north would be impossible."

"Hmph."

Ye Li knew that this wasn't something he could be unreasonable about.

If he mobilized more than a certain number of private soldiers, this would no longer be classified as revenge but rather an invasion of the Central Plains.

"How heartless the heavens are! To take someone like that away!"

Ye Li beat his chest in frustration.

"I resent this hateful situation where I cannot be of any help to you at all! I will remember this slight and one day, I'll definitely proclaim our independence under the name of Dai Viet!"

Lhasa, Xijiang.

Mount Maburi to the northwest.

On a plateau seven and a half li above sea level, a huge palace built during the Tang Dynasty stood.

The Potala Palace.

It towered over the rocky mountain, leaving those who saw it in awe. Its white and red exterior walls blended in perfect harmony, giving the impression of an impenetrable fortress.

Though incredibly tall, it was even wider—stretching from east to west like a dragon resting atop the mountain.

The outer wall was built on a steep slope, and when one followed the passage, it led to an old monk sitting on the stone.

His most characteristic feature was that he was wearing a yellow-colored robe and hat.

The main schools of Lama Buddhism were Nyingma, Kagyu, and Sakya.

Tsongkhapa was a member of the Nyingma School, which was also known as the Red Temple, but had left after seeing the corruption of the Lama.

After leaving, he denounced and criticized the doctrines of the three major schools, including the Red Temple, and established a temple to correct the corruption of the Lama monks.

The temple he founded was Gelug, one that emphasized precepts and purity.[1]

Although the three major schools assumed that Gelug would disappear soon after being founded, that wasn't the case at all.

It seemed the people of Xinjiang had grown weary of the corruption that had plagued the Lama schools since the Yuan Dynasty, and as a result, Gelug quickly gained their support.

"Demon Cult, so the Demon Cult..."

The leader of the Gelug School, Tsongkhapa, fell into deep thought after receiving news from the Central Plains.

"Hohoho! How can you leave so quietly? You should have at least told me if you needed me to be of service," Tsongkhapa muttered as if he was talking to someone.

His face was equally striking—thick, straight eyebrows reminiscent of Dragon Eyebrows[/ref]Dragon Eyebrows are thick, straight, and impressive.[/ref], strong yet kind eyes, and sharp, well-defined features. His chiseled jawline left a deep impression.

"Where is he going?"

"...hmm?"

The people following Boundless Dragon's footsteps stopped.

At the end of their gaze stood Tactician Phoenix Zhuge Xiuluan, who was cold and inhuman, like a porcelain doll.

"Tactician Phoenix. It's already getting dark. Let's turn in for the night."

"..."

Zhuge Xiuluan turned slightly at Nangong Shanxu's call.

"Gasp!"

"Wow!"

The male onlookers looked dumbfounded.

With the setting sun casting a glow behind her, the Tactician Phoenix looked like a fairy from a story.

She frowned slightly, clearly displeased by the commotion, before letting out a soft breath and turning away again without a word.

"Are you still concerned about the Sword Dragon's life or death?" Nangong Shanxu asked softly so that only Zhuge Xiuluan could hear.

Showing a subtle reaction, Zhuge Xiuluan flinched.

"As expected..."

Nangong Shanxu let out a soft sigh.

Not long after the Righteous Faction gathered in Qinghai, news of the Divine Monk and the Sword Dragon's life or death came.

No, it wasn't life or death.

It was just death.

Being stationed on the front lines before the war even began made them especially sensitive to rumors. Right now, one rumor in particular was spreading like wildfire.

At the time, they had been in the middle of a strategy meeting. When Zhuge Xiuluan first heard the news, the always calm and calculating master had gone speechless.

Since then, she had frequently stood still like this, lost in thought, saying nothing.

"At times like this, you should come to your senses, Young Lady Zhuge. As the Tactician, you should know better than anyone what happened to the Sword Dragon."

"...Yes."

Zhuge Xiuluan nodded her head mid-sentence.

"I'm truly sorry, Young Lady Zhuge. I, as one of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes, also wanted to meet him. May the deceased rest in peace."

Instead of bowing, Nangong Shenwu clasped a fist in respect.

***

Smack!

Smack! Smack!

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

"Agh!"

Zhou Xuchuan's watery eyes shot open.

"Little Ghost, I'm awake..."

Smack!!!

"OW!"

He was alive and well.

1. Also known as the Yellow Hat School, Gelug is the newest of the Four Major Schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Tsongkhapa in the 12/13th centuries and has been the leading school of Tibetan Buddhism since the 16th century. If you've heard of the Dalai Lama, you've heard of Gelug. ☜

2. In Qinghai Province, directly under Gansu. ☜

Cyncoco's Thoughts

It's me, Cyncoco!

End of Book 10!!!

7 more books to go.

I hope all of you are enjoying this book, and thank you for all the comments!

The last few chapters have been WILD. Why do you do me like this, Hong Gao...

As a thank you for all of your support, I'll answer any non-spoiler wuxia/murim questions that you may have in the discord! Think—anything you may have wanted me to do a ref about, or a long tl/n about, etcetc.

I'm not 100% sure when this chapter is going to be posted, but the day this book is posted as an official chapter, I'll answer any question I am confident about answering for 48 hours.

Disclaimer, this isn't something WW is sponsoring officially, just something I'm doing on my own, so nothing I say should be taken as WW's official stance (especially because I'm just one person and while I've read a LOT of murim, there are thousands of stories posted every year I haven't read all of them.

I hope you all enjoy The Regressor of Mount Hua until the end!

P.S.

I just saw a comment that made me want to clarify something.

In Korean Murim novels, the concept of the Dao is more of an ephemeral ideology, in the Daoist religious sense, rather than the more commonly seen in Chinese Wuxia of a cultivation dao. That's why we don't translate it as the Sword Dao (except in very specific circumstances), for example.

So, to be specific, the Korean 'Path' is more akin to the Chinese Cultivation Novel version of the Chinese 'Dao,' while the Korean 'Dao' is more akin to the religion, Daoism.

You're not going to see the sort of— 'He cultivated the Dao of Swords, reaching xxx levels of power, etc, etc.' that you see in the Chinese cultivation novels.

In fact, the Path here isn't even the word for Path, to be honest. It's actually 심상 (心狀), or Heart/Mind/Intention + Form/Shape. Or, the 'Shape of one's Heart'. However, while Manifestation of One's Heart sounds fine, using Heart as a term on its own was difficult, so we(I, it was me) decided to use the more familiar Path to tie into WW's collective reading experience.