Chapter 695
At first, no one paid attention.
Or rather, there wasn’t time to pay attention to anything else.
The string of major events, and the mobilization order that swelled the ranks by the day, had silenced even the ordinary tribesmen in the Outer Palace. Nearly ten thousand warriors and beasts now waited for their new palace lord in the Inner Palace.
Even so, there were still those who held their ground.
“I’m dying. It’s hot, and the atmosphere’s unsettling. I wish I’d been assigned to the easy East Gate or West Gate instead.”
At the grumbling of the young hubae who had just finished patrol, the middle-aged warrior sitting in the shade against the North Gate wall clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. That’s a fine thing to say. A young man with a bright future, already thinking about slacking off.”
“That something you should say while you’re sitting in the shade and I’m the one patrolling?”
“I’m old. When else am I supposed to rest?”
“Well… you’re not wrong.”
The Southern Barbarian Beast Palace had three main gates: East, West, and the North Gate where they were. There had never been a South Gate. The sheer cliffs rising behind the Inner Palace were sturdier than any gate could ever be.
“How was the patrol? How’s the Outer Palace?”
“Not even a rat in the marketplace.”
“…Figures. Everyone must be uneasy.”
The middle-aged warrior sighed.
Nearly ten thousand warriors were gathered in the Inner Palace alone—a force large enough to be called a small nation.
The last time so many warriors gathered was fifty years ago, during the Great War of Justice and Evil.
History repeated itself.
The old man’s thoughts drifted to the past. Parents pulled their children close and bolted their doors. Unease spread everywhere, like a great war was about to erupt.
“But… are we really going to war with the Central Plains?”
At the hubae’s cautious question, the middle-aged warrior answered quietly.
“Well. Before that, one thing’s certain.”
“What?”
“Before we fight a war in the Central Plains, we’ll shed blood right here in the Southern Barbarian Region.”
“As you know, the former palace lord is still alive, and the five tribal chiefs supporting him have left the Outer Palace. The higher-ups will want to clean up the inside first, before heading to the Central Plains.”
It was something anyone with sense and experience could guess.
A civil war.
The first in three hundred years awaited them. And to reach the Central Plains, they would have to trample over the blood and corpses of comrades they’d shared everything with until only days ago.
The young warrior’s face—usually so light—fell into shadow.
Among those five tribes were childhood friends of his.
The middle-aged warrior watched his hubae darken, then rose quietly.
“Where are you going?”
“I’ve slacked off enough. I’ll take a look along the ramparts. I haven’t moved in so long my body’s aching.”
“Don’t bother. Just rest. Another squad has the ramparts anyway—”
“Would those guys even stand guard properly? They’ll all sneak down and sit in the shade like us. And if the higher-ups catch them, I’m the gatekeeper. I’m the one who gets chewed out.”
He wasn’t wrong.
The guard was rarely strict to begin with—no outsiders ever came and went—but it was even looser now that a ten-thousand-strong force was stationed inside.
Even a madman desperate to die wouldn’t dare invade the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace in this state. It would be suicide.
Besides…
‘Everyone must be uneasy.’
Contrary to what you’d expect, not many were burning to fight.
Yal Chok—now branded a traitor to the Southern Barbarian Region—had once been a palace lord respected by all. And the tribes who had lived under the banner of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace for three hundred years, mixing and blending with one another, recoiled at the thought of imminent civil war and the great war beyond.
But what could they do?
They had to do as they were told.
“Hoo.”
With a sigh, the middle-aged warrior climbed the ramparts.
Just as he expected, it was quiet.
Well, one man remained.
The problem was, he was snoring.
‘…Well. Rest while you can.’
It was the calm before the storm. Maybe today was the last day these pathetic subordinates would ever get to rest.
Shaking his head, the middle-aged warrior straightened atop the ramparts and looked out into the distance.
It was noon.
The sun was already high, pouring down suffocating heat. Outside the North Gate, the vast pasture and the hill overlooking the Outer Palace shimmered in a haze.
Then—
‘Wait.’
What was that?
Was he seeing things?
The middle-aged warrior frowned, doubt creeping in. He blinked. Then blinked again. He rubbed his eyes hard with his sleeve.
But the scene didn’t change.
“…What is this?”
A dazed voice slipped from his lips without him realizing it.
And at the end of where his gaze was fixed, a huge White Tiger took a step.
Thud.
Silvery-white fur. Massive paws brushing through grass as it advanced.
At the same time, wind blew from nowhere and swept through the forest behind the hill.
Whoosh.
Branches intertwined thickly, leaves hanging in endless layers, all swayed at once.
And in the shadow of that lush forest…
Another forest moved.
Rumble.
The ground trembled. The air warped. Wind scattered. Countless vertically slit eyes glowed with eerie light.
The middle-aged warrior’s mouth slowly fell open.
Beasts.
An immeasurable number of beasts.
As an ordinary warrior, he couldn’t even begin to guess how many lurked behind that treeline. Where had these predators—fangs and claws bared—come from?
But he could guess one thing.
Whoever led that great army of beasts—one look at it was enough to send chills down his spine—was not someone ordinary.
Whoosh!
Large and small silver forms crossed the pasture like a cold breeze.
Two White Tiger—now there were two—stopped before the massive iron gate.
And on their backs rode a boy and a girl.
‘T-that’s…’
The middle-aged warrior’s pupils shook.
If it were anyone else, they might not have recognized them right away.
But he had served as the North Gate keeper for ten years. The moment he saw their faces, it felt like an iron club had slammed into the back of his skull.
How could he not know?
The girl was one of the four Great Tribe Leaders in the Southern Barbarian Region.
And the young man beside her was—
‘Jin Taekyung.’
Just thinking the name made his breathing catch.
There was no mistake.
It was him. The stranger who had come to this land for the first time in hundreds of years since the Five Poisons Sect was destroyed. The eye of the storm that had descended upon the Southern Barbarian Region.
Jin Taekyung had come to the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace himself.
With countless beasts.
And with Yohee, the Great Tribe Leader of the Yao Tribe—said to have been kidnapped.
‘W-what is going on…?’
But before the question could even form fully, the man who had kept his lips tightly sealed finally spoke.
“Let me give you some advice. You’d better step away from there.”
The middle-aged warrior—instinctively about to sound the alarm—froze.
Watching him, Jin Taekyung let out a silent breath of relief.
‘Thank goodness. I’m not too late.’
The moment he saw the gatekeeper’s face, he knew.
Dark Heaven’s plot hadn’t begun yet.
If the “crack” had already opened, this place would have become a hell where no one could live.
But in this silence—ominous enough to make the skin crawl—he could feel it.
A bomb with its fuse burning down.
“Isn’t that right, Whitey?”
The huge body beneath him twitched.
The Guardian Spirit of the Divine Stone—White Tiger, restored to its former appearance—sent telepathy.
-…How dare you call this body by such a name.
“If it were before, it would’ve been Blackie. Of course, I’m not a racist.”
-I have no idea what you’re babbling about. You really are a crazy human.
Crazy bastard. Yeah. He’d heard that a lot.
Jin Taekyung muttered inwardly, smiled, and lowered the spearhead in his hand.
Was he afraid of what was coming?
Of course.
But he’d crossed countless death lines to get here, and he’d done everything he could with what he’d been given.
Baek Sang. Southern Demon Empress. Dark Heaven.
It didn’t matter who stood in his way now. He’d fight with his life on the line.
‘Yes. With my life on the line.’
This was a battle with tens of thousands—hundreds of thousands—maybe more lives at stake.
Before it was over, blood might form rivers and corpses might pile into mountains.
Even so…
‘I have to do it.’
Someone once said:
Do everything you can, then wait for Heaven’s Will.
After you’ve done what a person can, leave the result to Heaven.
But Jin Taekyung thought differently.
Only when you could change even Heaven’s Will could you truly call it Will.
‘Isn’t that right?’
He lifted his gaze to the sky.
Instead of an answer, blazing sunlight poured down.
He couldn’t die—especially not on a day like this.
Of course, that was true in any weather.
He didn’t want to die. He had no intention of dying.
Even if… the Celestial Lord waited behind this iron gate.
Swish—scrape!
In an instant, a blue-white aura flashed through space and split the massive iron gate clean in half.
The Guardian Spirit—reborn as a dazzling silver White Tiger—threw back its head and roared, shaking heaven and earth.
-Kwaaaaaang!
And within its maw, which looked ready to swallow the world, there was more than steel-hard fangs and a crimson tongue.
Hwaaaaa!
Dazzling light.
In a breath, radiance flooded the world.
A pillar of light rose from the Divine Stone held in the Guardian Spirit’s mouth, swept over the ramparts, and pierced the sky.
Swaaaaa!
A towering beam visible from a hundred miles away—maybe a thousand.
Everyone saw it.
The ten thousand warriors gathered in the Inner Palace.
And the countless beasts crowding the hill.
-Kyawoo!
-Kkaaaang!
With their roars, an invisible dam collapsed.
The beasts—waiting only for their master’s command—became a wave and poured across the wide grasslands.
Rumble!
Under the burning sun, the earth shook and the wind scattered.
And at the front of it all stood one man.
“Let’s go.”
The words fell quietly from his lips.
At the same time, the Guardian Spirit kicked off the ground with terrifying force.
Whoooosh!
It was the beginning of the great war that would decide the fate of the Southern Barbarian Region.
(T/N : What a cliffhanger! Sorry guys! )