Chapter 227: Chapter 227
Chapter 227: Rehabilitation (2)
At the beginning of the letter Il-mok sent, there was information about Pingliang County and the Ghost Valley Master.
In addition to the evil deeds they'd committed, it requested that physicians and a certain martial artist be sent over to help with the Butterfly Dream Grass addiction.
And what followed after that was about the Beggars’ Gang.
—A Seven-Knot Beggar of the Beggars’ Gang came to investigate the Maitreya Luminous Cult. However, this disciple used his wit and successfully deceived the Seven-Knot Beggar, and thanks to that, he obtained several important pieces of information.
The contents written there were shocking in many ways.
It contained information that the Murim Alliance and the Beggars’ Gang already had some idea of what was going on in Xinjiang.
—Furthermore, this disciple successfully linked the incident at Mount Kongtong with the Blood Cult and redirected the Beggars’ Gang's attention away from our Heavenly Demon Divine Cult toward the Blood Cult, which may not even exist.
As they read about Il-mok’s cleverness, both Wi Jin-hak and the Demonic Physician were genuinely impressed. But by the last paragraph, their faces were twisted in anger.
Because what was written there was a real gut punch.
—The Seven-Knot Beggar who was deceived by this disciple said there was a very special method to distinguish spies of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. So this disciple asked what that method was, saying it was necessary to monitor the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult in Gansu Province, and the beggar answered.
Il-mok had written the letter mixing in a bit of lies.
If he revealed the truth as it is, something terrible could happen, so he just flipped the story around to make it sound like he tricked the beggar into telling him.
—He said that if you insult Master in front of someone suspected of being a spy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, they will definitely show a reaction. Furthermore, if you tell them to insult Master with their own mouth, they absolutely won't be able to do it, and this is the secret method to distinguish spies of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
After reading Il-mok's entire letter, Wi Jin-hak exploded with anger.
“Those… those rotten, dirty beggars!”
On the other hand, the Demonic Physician looked at the Heavenly Demon with a face full of worry.
"Will this be alright?"
The Heavenly Demon let out a light sigh.
"If I let them insult this old man, it poses a problem because it could crack the doctrine and the faith of the believers, but if I just leave it be, it poses the problem of our people being caught by those Beggars’ Gang bastards.”
As the Heavenly Demon said, this was quite a serious problem.
For a proper member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—that is, one whose head had gone wrong from reading the doctrine—you had no choice but to fall for this method.
This was the Beggars’ Gang’s secret weapon, the trick they kept hidden up their sleeve.
Since there was a risk that the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would devise countermeasures if it became widely known, it was a secret technique that only experts of Six-Knot Beggar or higher in the Beggars’ Gang were taught.
But thanks to the Little Tiger Beggar being deceived by Il-mok, that news had now been delivered to the Heavenly Demon himself.
The problem was that he couldn’t think of a solution.
If he simply allowed insults against the Heavenly Demon, there was a risk that the brainwashing of the cult members would be undone. Or as the Heavenly Demon would put it, their faith might start to waver.
The three of them—no, four, counting the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord who was also listening—thought about the problem for a while. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel⸺fire.net
"Now that I think about it, Physician Seo Jae-pil told me something interesting."
The Demonic Physician spoke up as if he'd remembered something.
“He said that after the disciples from the Hall of the Demonic Way got attacked by those heretics from out west, there was a period when they were having a hard time mentally."
"Was there such an incident? I didn't hear about it from Hall Master Yeom."
And just like that, the Heavenly Demon’s trust in Hall Master Yeom took another little hit.
Realizing what impact his words had, the Demonic Physician coughed awkwardly while apologizing inwardly, 'Sorry, Hall Master Yeom.'
“Ahem. Anyway, during that time, Physician Seo was trying to figure out what to do, and the Eighth Young Master gave him a solution.”
"Hehe. So Hall Master Yeom couldn't solve something that our youngest solved."
"Err... Y-yes, Lord of Ten Thousand Demons."
"Then what was that solution?"
“He advised them to confess their weakness to the Supreme One.”
The Heavenly Demon was taken aback by the solution. He’d never heard about any of this, let alone had anyone confess their sins to him.
“Obviously, they couldn't confess their sins to the Supreme One directly, so the Eighth Young Master advised them to offer prayers every night. He said that humans are inherently evil and weak, so if they confess their sins, the Heavenly Demon will forgive those sins."
The Heavenly Demon could understand why the Demonic Physician was bringing this up now.
"You're saying to tell the cult members active in the Central Plains about that method. Even if they insult this old man in front of the Beggars’ Gang or others, to let it pass for now and then ask forgiveness from me for that sin."
"Exactly, Lord of Ten Thousand Demons."
Understanding the Demonic Physician's intention, the Heavenly Demon quickly turned his head to devise a concrete plan.
“Having them come to me every time is ridiculous. So how about this?”
As the Heavenly Demon who had brought a new era of prosperity to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and was the object of faith tried to offer his opinion, those with him perked up their ears.
“We will create a new doctrine. A doctrine which states that if one commits an act that goes against the teachings of the cult, including insulting the Heavenly Demon, they are to go to a superior, confess their sin, and ask for forgiveness. And along with it, a doctrine that states if a sin that was not self-confessed is later revealed, it will be met with severe punishment.”
It was the moment the confession booth was born in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
And the source of all this trouble was Il-mok.
While everyone was admiring the Heavenly Demon's brilliant wisdom, the Demonic Physician realized one important problem.
"Supreme One, I have one question. What is the standard for the superior to whom one confesses their sins? Is it simply anyone whose rank is higher than yours?"
"As expected of the Demonic Physician. That's an excellent question. The superior to whom sins must be confessed will be divided according to the severity of the sin and the cult member's role. If a warrior from some branch in Xinjiang has to travel all the way here to confess every little thing, he won't be able to do his actual job, and that's a sin in itself, right?”
"Hahaha. The youngest said 'A Day Without Work is a Day Without Food,' That’s a great point, Master!”
Wi Jin-hak commented while recalling the contents of the letter Dam Bin had sent earlier.
When he thought about it, his little brother had not only tricked those filthy beggars, he’d also lectured them with those awesome words. He was a real model for the whole cult.
Wi Jin-hak, who had been furious that those beggar bastards were tarnishing Master's prestige, felt his anger subside a bit as he recalled the youngest's wit again.
As if understanding Wi Jin-hak's feelings, the Heavenly Demon also nodded and added, "On the other hand, if the sin is too grave, then it would be proper to come to the main headquarters and confess the sin to this old man or the Chief of the Law Enforcement Hall, especially for something like having to insult the Heavenly Demon, like our youngest wrote in his letter.”
"Then what will be the standard for judging whether the severity of a sin is high or low?"
At the Demonic Physician's question, the Heavenly Demon smiled gently and stroked his beard.
"Well, shouldn't we leave that to the right person?"
Saying so, the Heavenly Demon turned his head and looked at the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord.
"Have the Chief of the Law Enforcement Hall and Dark Shadow Pavilion Lord called in shortly. Since the cult's doctrine and laws are the responsibility of the Law Enforcement Hall, and the branches in the Central Plains are under the jurisdiction of the Dark Shadow Pavilion, I'll entrust this matter to those two."
The Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord bowed with discipline, showing no emotion on his face.
'I'll have to tell the children of the Hidden Guard Pavilion not to go anywhere near the Law Enforcement Hall or Dark Shadow Pavilion for a while.'
On the inside, he was sending his deepest sympathies to the poor souls in the Law Enforcement Hall and Dark Shadow Pavilion members who were about to be worked to death.
Of course, he had no intention of delivering that comfort directly.
If he went anywhere near there for no reason, there was a risk the sparks would fly to him as well.
'Hmm. My duty is to assist the Supreme One, so I won't have any reason to encounter them anyway.'
After justifying his non-involvement, the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord thought, 'He’s all the way out in Gansu, and he still managed to throw the heads of two major departments here at the main headquarters into the pit of hell. As expected, the Eighth Young Master is a terrifying man.'
Honestly, he was worried that the Eighth Young Master might get assassinated someday.
Not by his enemies, but by someone inside the Cult he’d worked into an early grave.
Thanks to the Eighth Young Master, there were so many people suffering from overwork that it was impossible to even narrow down the list of suspects.
While the Hidden Guard Pavilion Lord was having idle thoughts along with a well-practiced poker face, the Heavenly Demon who had passed off work with skill no less than Il-mok's, added. "Now that I think about it, it seems the Murim Alliance and Beggars’ Gang are closely monitoring our cult and Xinjiang's movements."
“We should tell the Dark Shadow Pavilion to hunt down those rat bastards."
Wi Jin-hak said, casually trying to dump another job on their plate, and the Heavenly Demon nodded. “We’ll have to, but haste makes waste; there's a risk it could backfire instead. We should slowly tighten internal security, but it would be best to keep the letter sent by Squad Leader Dam under wraps for a while."
"That's right. If the Maitreya Luminous Cult's hymns and missionary methods are being spread in Xinjiang under our cult's name, our enemies would start suspecting our youngest. In the worst case, our youngest would be besieged from all directions.”
“My thinking was short-sighted, Master. Then I'll put aside the stories contained in that letter."
And with that, the people working for the Demon-Teaching Pavilion were saved from being worked to death. For now.
“But we need to be ready to move fast when the time comes. So, get a plan together on how to implement our youngest’s methods and hymns. Put together a proposal. Select only the most trustworthy people so the information doesn't spread."
"I will follow Master's command!"
So instead of everyone getting worked to death, only Wi Jin-hak’s most trusted people would be worked to death.
Having sorted that out, the Heavenly Demon this time turned his head to look at the Demonic Physician.
And understanding the meaning contained in that gaze, the Demonic Physician quickly bowed and answered.
"I will quickly organize the physicians to send to Pingliang County in Gansu Province and report back."
The Demonic Physician had caught on that staying longer could result in sparks flying to him as well. The terrifying sparks called endless overtime.
No, it could be said the sparks had already flown and he'd already been hit.
For every physician he sent away, the workload for the ones left behind would double.
Thanks to the letters sent by Dam Bin and Il-mok, a massive hurricane of work was tearing through the main headquarters.
Several days before the physicians and a certain martial artist escaped the main headquarters to avoid that storm, Hong Gae came by to give Il-mok an update.
“Like you asked, I found three storytellers and sent them to your band. Also, it looks like the stable and inn up on the mountain will be finished soon.”
"Don't mention it. It's for the people here."
Hong Gae answered as if he'd done what needed to be done and left the government office just like that. Il-mok watched him go for a second, then looked down at the demonic sword at his hip.
"Aren't you excited? This town is about to get a whole lot more fun. Hahaha.”
In response, the demonic sword started humming happily.
“Hahaha. Looks like you’re excited, too.”
At Il-mok's words, the demonic sword vibrated again, but Il-mok just kept smiling and walked off to meet the storytellers.