Kill The Old Ones!

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The past year and a half haven’t been exactly peaceful for the ones who were left behind.

Things have been rather hectic since the GMU discovered the cult’s scheme. It was only uneventful for a little while before the cult began baring its fangs.

The death of one of the cardinals definitely rattled their coats badly, and they decided to unleash hell upon humanity for crossing them.

In the past year and half alone, they have captured 30 cities across empires, fully controlling and enslaving everybody within.

The GMU and the Imperial Court took swift action against them, but unfortunately, the cult has been prepared for a long time.

Along with their main scheme, the same one thwarted thanks to Ren’s exposition, the cult was fully ready to target key areas to capture if their scheme had worked.

They’ve been laying the groundwork for decades. Most of their sleeper agents may have been uprooted, but it doesn’t mean that the cult was out of options.

Even though their main scheme was a massive failure, the work they’ve done in the past wasn’t all wasted. They’ve seeded human civilization with their plots, which they could use at any given moment.

And in the past year and half, they have been doing exactly that.

Now, reports about ’The Corrupted’ are spreading.

’The Corrupted’ was a term used for beings that had been inflicted, enslaved, and controlled by the cult. They could be dungeon creatures or humans.

The reason behind the name was because all of them had this cloud of darkness that corrupts everything they touch. Their minds and bodies are twisted to madness, forcing them to kill everything that breathes or moves.

The corrupted are marching and spreading slowly throughout the entire human civilization; the government and the imperial court said that they were doing their best, and yet, even so, the corrupted are still around.

Ren heard of these reports and sighed.

It’s bad news, of course, but compared to what happened in the canon? Oh, this was much, much better.

In the timeless canon, it wasn’t just limited to 30 cities. It was 100, all across the entire human civilization.

At one point, the cult had penetrated so deep that they even took control of a whole empire. One that needed the attention of at least three martial gods to contain.

Had it not been for what he did, an alien god’s will would’ve manifested within the human world, and with that kind of backing, the power of the cult will become even stronger than before.

The only way to deal with them is to cut the foreign god’s thoughts and will out of this world so that he won’t be able to exert his influence over the human world.

Millions of people would’ve died from this. And at least three of the martial gods will be out of commission to stop the foreign god from descending to the human world. That’s three less on the front lines to keep others in check.

At some point, things will become worse.

The Archstones will be corrupted. All dungeons will shift to a black shade tendency, killing even more explorers and martial artists.

The human world itself will be severely weakened by this, and this problem would’ve lasted for more than a decade before the Hero and his party finally become strong enough to confront the main evil.

But with Ren’s interference, the situation was much, much better.

The will and thoughts of the foreign god never had the chance to descend and manifest before the human world to begin with. The cult was de-fanged way earlier and now could only respond ferociously after they noticed that they were backed in a corner.

From what he heard so far, the Azure Radiance Saint was more than enough to keep the cult in check.

As for the captured city, while they sure are a problem, they are controlled.

In the canon, the growth of the cult was fast and out of control. They seized humans by surprise, and their plots were triggered one right after the other, especially ones that they’d been preparing for decades.

Because of that, in less than a month, they’ve captured 100 cities, enslaving and corrupting everyone living in them.

Now, the 30 cities that the cult managed to capture were under tight observation.

It was a desperate move on their part. When their grand scheme failed, one that they’d sacrificed way too much for, their fate had been severely tested. The Pope and the Cardinals saw this as a bad thing; that’s why they deliberately unleashed their might, however false it may be, just to keep their believers devoted to their cause.

Sure, they may have captured cities, but they’re not in full control. They haven’t been able to control entire cities.

Hell, the City Lords themselves weren’t even taking them seriously.

The only reason why they haven’t been kicked out of the cities is because of the martial gods.

Both the Azure Radiance Saint and the Verdant Immortal Monarch intended to use the cult as a sharpening tool for humans to grow stronger.

This conflict was a necessary wake-up call to those that have been a little too comfortable with the status quo for a while now. They are forgetting the real reason why martial arts have been created in the first place.

Of course, this was under control. Yes, there will be casualties; that cannot be avoided. But for the sake of the long run and the continuity of the human race, this was very much needed.

Strife is necessary for the growth of the population.

The martial gods wouldn’t have to do this if the main scheme of the cult happened because the situation would’ve been much worse if that’s the case.

In a sense, this should be a way for the timeless to compensate for what should’ve happened instead.

In the canon, Central City was one of the highly contested cities. Had Ren allowed the scheme to grow, he probably wouldn’t even have a home to return to. This would’ve been the catalyst for the clan to finally leave their ancestral land and move elsewhere.

But that’s not what happened. Ren interfered and altered the course. The clan still holds to its land and is faring rather well compared to others.

Because of that, Ren’s heart was at ease. This was the whole point of why he interfered in the first place.

He feels relieved that he was able to do something for the clan.

Speaking of which...

Ren’s short break ended. He had rested for three days, doing nothing but lounging around if he wasn’t writing down some things.

He visited the clan’s martial hall the day after his return and saw that there were more people there. There was a section added for the Sky Archon Arts that are being translated into martial arts.

Ren perused them for a bit and sighed. They were too behind. What’s written in these books are things he realized during his first week of research at the trial grounds.

He could stand it, so he began his work.

Under their shocked faces, Ren brought out the complete catalogue of every Sky Archon Art that was available in the store. Ren bought every single one and arranged them according to grades.

Then, he added another shelf that contains his insights about translating the Sky Archon Arts to martial arts. At the very least, the first six months worth of his insights.

As for the most complicated ones, he brought them straight to the top of the martial hall and left them there.

After that doing that, he left, leaving the others to feast their eyes upon the new doors that will be opened to them.

The value of this translation would be minimized to others, but maximized within the Banished Arms Clan. Ren could expect that the clan will become much stronger with this.

But he didn’t end his work there.

Ren began creating new martial arts for himself, too.

The ones he’s been using previously will no longer be sufficient since he stepped into the Pulse Awakening stage. He’s at the late stage, by the way.

Ren needed so much more, ones that would tie him to the Inhuman Realm as well. So, he began working in earnest.

As for the Pain Demon Art, the 2.0 version was already out in the martial hall.

That one was more sinister than the previous one. It contains deeper knowledge brought to him by his research using the Sky Archon Arts.

The ’painful chakra’ now gnaws at the target’s flesh, burrowing itself deeper and deeper to the target’s body, and it brings excruciating pain with it.

Skin, flesh, bones, marrows, and yes, even to the very chakra network itself. That’s how deep it burrows depending on the user’s mastery.

It’s a torment like any other. Ren raised the pain amplification from the power of ten to twenty; its duration was raised from a maximum of 30 seconds up to a whole minute at peak mastery.

Ren has created a true ’Demon Art,’ one that would make demons themselves proud, and Pain demons themselves orgasm at the thought.

And the best part is? Ren had completely eliminated the technique’s drawbacks to its user.

It’s consequence-free.

’Take that, you lousy ancestor! ’