Chapter 75
Gwangjin Cult
…had fallen into ruin eighteen years ago.
Then how had the once-mighty Gwangjin Cult come to collapse?
Because an enemy too difficult to oppose had invaded? No.
Because they had encountered a natural disaster and had no choice? No.
It was because they had fallen into internal conflict among themselves…
“Everything began after the death of the Cult Leader.”
Twenty years ago.
The previous Cult Leader had suddenly died. There was no known cause, no known reason. Someone who had been perfectly healthy until the day before simply died overnight.
The Gwangjin Cult was thrown into chaos.
There were all sorts of rumors: that it was a scheme by the Orthodox sects, that there was a traitor among them, that the Cult Leader had died from qi deviation after improperly practicing martial arts, and so on.
But despite all the theories, they could not discover the reason behind the previous Cult Leader’s death. Nor did they have time to investigate it. A problem even more pressing had arisen.
“Unfortunately, the previous Cult Leader passed away without appointing a successor.”
That was where the conflict began. With no successor, there was no one to immediately inherit the position of Cult Leader, and more and more people began eyeing the vacant seat.
At the time, the Gwangjin Cult was divided into two factions.
The Doctrine Faction argued that since the organization had begun as a religion, it should continue to retain its religious character.
The Reform Faction argued that although it had begun as a religion, too much time had passed and it should change into a martial arts sect more suited to the world.
“The Reform Faction branched off from the Doctrine Faction. In the old days, the Gwangjin Cult had such a strong religious character that ordinary people viewed it negatively. Since that made spreading our teachings difficult, a faction that opposed this naturally emerged.”
The Gwangjin Cult had been persecuted as a heretical cult in the Central Plains since ancient times.
Because they forced people to be vegetarians and practiced naked burial, removing a person’s clothes and burying them as they were after death, the people of the Central Plains could not understand such customs and regarded them with disgust.
The Reform Faction argued that in order to change this perception, they had to abandon the Cult’s strange customs and become more like the various forces of the Central Plains.
“Originally, even the title of the Twelve Serving Kings was, to be precise, the Twelve Apostles. But after accepting the Reform Faction’s opinion, it was changed to the Twelve Serving Kings.”
“Listening to this, it doesn’t sound like such a bad sect?”
“That is how every sect begins. But why is it that they all change later on…?”
The Reform Faction initially only called for institutional reforms, but their actions gradually became more radical.
When the Central Plains’ perception of the Gwangjin Cult failed to change, they began thinking that perhaps they should simply rule the Central Plains and correct its misguided ideology.
The Reform Faction had steadily expanded its influence while waiting for an opportunity. However, they had no proper justification for attacking the Central Plains, and more importantly, opposition from the Doctrine Faction was so strong that they could not actually act.
Then a problem arose.
“One Central Plains sect that regarded the Gwangjin Cult as an eyesore found an excuse to invade a village where our followers lived. Then they slaughtered every single person there, even though those people had done nothing but farm their entire lives.”
The incident enraged not only the Reform Faction, but the Doctrine Faction as well.
The Cult Leader of that era also declared that he could not stand by and watch, raised an army, and attacked the martial world of the Central Plains. This became the First Orthodox-Demonic War.
“From then on, they began calling us the Demon Cult and despising us. The Cult, too, had harbored deep hatred toward the martial world of the Central Plains for a long time.”
They continued fighting for a long time. But the longer the fighting continued, the more opposing voices naturally began to emerge within.
The Doctrine Faction, which had always been uncomfortable with the war, insisted that they should reconcile while they still could, while the Reform Faction argued that they should fight to the very end, asking whether they even knew how much blood their followers had already shed.
It was during this time that the previous Cult Leader suddenly died.
“Originally, the Cult Leaders would mediate the conflict between the two factions and serve the role of bringing them together. But as time passed, the situation only changed further.”
“…”
“When a Cult Leader from the Doctrine Faction appeared, the Doctrine Faction gained power. When the Reform Faction produced a Cult Leader, the Reform Faction gained power. Eventually, once Cult Leaders began favoring their own faction, the rift between the two sides only grew deeper.”
The previous Cult Leader had belonged to the Doctrine Faction. But he had tried to bring the two factions together, as was his proper role, searching for a way for them to coexist.
The person he brought into the fold for that purpose was Lee Baeksan, a member of the Reform Faction and the Cult Leader’s half-brother.
Lee Baeksan was quite popular within the Gwangjin Cult.
He was outgoing and energetic, made friends easily, and never hesitated to give to others. Whenever a friend encountered trouble, he would immediately rush to their aid, earning widespread praise as a true man among men.
Furthermore, Lee Baeksan was fair when it came to rewards and punishments. He promoted those who performed well regardless of their status or origins, and punished those who failed according to their deeds.
Naturally, people followed Lee Baeksan. It was only natural that his influence grew rapidly.
“One mistake was that the Cult Leader was wary of Lee Baeksan, but did not keep him in check. Lee Baeksan treated the Cult Leader extremely well, and although the Cult Leader remained wary of him, he did not hate him.”
But Lee Baeksan was an ambitious man.
He had always been willing to do anything to rise to a higher position, and after the Cult Leader’s death, he once again revealed his ambitions.
Before the Cult Leader’s funeral had even taken place, he began criticizing the previous Cult Leader. He claimed that the previous Cult Leader had been too weak, that he had been overly cautious, and that this was why the martial world of the Central Plains had looked down on them.
Furthermore, since the previous Cult Leader had come from the Doctrine Faction, he argued that the next Cult Leader should naturally come from the Reform Faction, and went so far as to nominate himself.
At the time, the person being discussed as the next Cult Leader was the previous Cult Leader’s eldest son, Lee Hwi.
The people on Lee Hwi’s side were thrown into confusion.
Hadn’t Lee Baeksan, who until the previous Cult Leader’s death had seemed willing to give his life for him, suddenly changed his attitude overnight?
But they couldn’t simply stand by and let their position be stolen, so the Doctrine Faction continued to protest. Eventually, the conflict between the two factions erupted.
“Originally, we intended to determine the Cult Leader through the Cult Position Contest, where the two sides would compete in martial prowess. But on the very day before the agreed-upon date, Lee Baeksan raised his troops. A civil war had begun.”
The civil war lasted for a full six months.
During that time, the Gwangjin Cult suffered irreparable damage. Countless experts were killed or went missing. Some fled in order to preserve their lives, while others left the Cult entirely, lamenting the state it had been reduced to.
Even the end of the civil war was far from good. The leaders of both factions, Lee Baeksan and Lee Hwi, disappeared, and so the conflict simply fizzled out.
But the Gwangjin Cult that had collapsed could not be rebuilt. Not only had countless people been lost, but much of their wealth had also been burned or destroyed.
And so, the Gwangjin Cult, which had boasted such a long history, fell into ruin in an instant.
“After the civil war ended, only a small number of people remained in the ruined Gwangjin Cult. The previous Cult Leader’s second son, Lord Lee Jinyuan, gathered the survivors and decided to leave Xinjiang. He suggested that they go to the Central Plains and build new lives.”
“…”
“But in the Central Plains, hatred toward our Cult had reached its peak. The Second Orthodox-Demonic War broke out around that time, and they suffered severe losses because of it.”
“Another Orthodox-Demonic War broke out? But the Gwangjin Cult was in the middle of a civil war…”
“Exactly! At the time, the Cult was in the middle of a civil war, so busy fighting amongst ourselves that we had no time to do anything else. How could we possibly have started a war? Those hypocrites were the ones who lied!”
After fuming for a while, Eom Papa eventually let out a long sigh and spoke dejectedly.
“But by then, the Cult was in too poor a situation to correct those lies. We were barely able to make a living as it was, so how could we go around explaining everything one by one? Besides, if they attacked the Cult, even the people who remained might…”
Die…
In the end, the followers of the Gwangjin Cult decided to conceal their identities and live in hiding. And that was how they had quietly lived in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains of Guangxi Province until now.
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
‘Is this really true?’
The only things I had worried about were becoming the leader of a cult, or discovering that they were the people who had been my enemies.
I had never imagined there would be a story like this behind it all. Even what I knew about the Demon Cult had apparently not been true…
I asked in a trembling voice.
“Then what about the rumors that have been circulating throughout the Central Plains? That the Demon Cult has been stirring up trouble, harming and kidnapping people everywhere…”
“They are false.”
“I, I heard that several sects were attacked. Those were all…?”
“False. The Cult currently has absolutely no capacity to do such things. Aside from the Gwangjin Left and Right Protectors, the strongest experts in the Cult, I am the only one remaining among the Twelve Serving Kings.”
“This can’t be…”
It wasn’t merely a cult.
It was a cult that had fallen into ruin and was barely struggling to preserve its existence.
And now, on top of that, they had been falsely accused.
A powerless public enemy of the martial world!
And they wanted me to become the leader of a place like this?
‘No.’
This really wasn’t happening…
Just as I hurriedly tried to say something…
“Cult Leader, you are looking for someone, aren’t you?”
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