"The Lord of the Spear Manor is truly deserving of his title!"
'...Right.'
Hearing the peanut gallery's commentary as he was getting up, Leo quickly came to a conclusion. Cheon Chang truly had another purpose for coming here!
As one of the Heavenly Strength Society's four pillars who acted on the outside, this senior brother of his naturally had a grand identity that was equal to his overwhelming strength. From the overview of other Martial Artists, he was a neutral powerhouse if not a bonafide member of the Righteous Faction!
'Did he even not appear in the novel?'
Considering the purpose behind the rushing of the Mount Hua Sword Conference, it wasn't too far-fetched for one of the Absolutes to be invited to attend the meeting concerning the safety of the martial arts community. However, Leo clearly remembered that Cheon Chang didn't make an appearance at this specific event.
There was a chance that he headed inside from the start and left in silence after getting rid of the monsters' obstruction, but Leo concluded that such a possibility was quite improbable. Rather, he felt like it was more likely for him to have ignored the invitation, still being busy with finding a successor for his master.
'Or did I make it so?'
As his only obsession developed from his faded desire of personally mastering the sword, it made sense for Cheon Chang to have decided to accompany them to keep said successor safe while attending the secret meeting on the side. Although the delay caused by his observation of his junior brother's battle seemed like it made it so he never managed to attend the meeting still…
'Another point to prove how 'Epic' that change was…'
Having already passed the dangerous phase, Leo's mind started to drift away in thought. Messing with the protagonist was always something that could end up shifting the whole world around, which made the exaggerated amount of Reading Points he received from the Legendary Event to be quite understandable.
However, the radicality of the one and only Epic event that had been triggered so far was slowly coming to light as Leo observed each and every change caused by it being uncovered in front of his eyes…
Bang!
"Baekho orabeoni! Yeon unni!"
A loud explosion sounded out from below as the ground shook. Cheon Chang, who had just finished most of the monsters, flashed into the stage by the time Cheon Sohee and Cheon Yong made it there. The members of the Heavenly Strength Society were quickly gathered together in no time.
The ground collapsed in the central field surrounded by the three competition fields, human figures emerging from within. Everyone whose field of vision caught this change could only stare in preplexion!
"Spread out! Eliminate everything that isn't human!"
The powerhouses and the top figures of Murim scanned the scene in distress. They had somehow managed to escape the deadly trap that almost annihilated half of them with everyone's help, but the situation wasn't that much better on the surface!
Those who were still relatively unscatched immediately moved to clean up the remainder of the monsters. The state in the 2nd and 3rd rate competition fields was hard to even take a look at, countless young seeds were minced to pieces, the audience weren't spared either as blood covered everything. However, the delayed combatants could only harden their hearts and focus on dealing with their enemy…
Craaa! Gwaaa! Kyaaa! Gaaah…
Monsters and Martial Artists screamed alike. Regardless of the perspective, both sides desperately fought to survive and annihilate as many of their opponents as they could. Surprise and lack of focus made it hard for one to realize, but this was just the beginning of a racial war!
"This…"
Arriving at the 1st rate field with the Sword King's support, the Sword Sage quickly noticed that the majority of the monsters were long dead. Due to their strange characteristics, Internal Energy Sense could only locate the foreign monsters' bodies, unable to ascertain their vital status.
"Oh! Changyong!"
Unlike the majestic image he displayed at the start of the Mount Hua Sword Conference, the current Sword Sage looked haggard. Having lost his left arm as an expense for speeding up his battle in order to break out of the encirclement, he now looked more like a pitiful old man rather than one of the powerhouses that stood at the peak of the world…
"You can't imagine how glad I'm that you managed to make it!"
As if his suffering was just an illusion, the Sword Sage's eyes glowed in high spirits as he spoke with Cheon Chang. The sight of the surviving young geniuses including Pung Miyoung was more than enough to make the pain feel like nothing. As long as the next generation of budding Martial Artists survived this ordeal, everything else was tolerable!
Pung Chungwon felt that it was a shame that 'Changyong' didn't make it as the start considering that he would have been a great help in executing their defense and prevention plans, but all he could think about now was how his latency ended up saving the 1st rate field from falling into tragedy like the rest of the fields!
"I'm just here to take back my student."
Cheon Chang's stiff face remained unchanged by the turn of events, stating the secret that had been hidden for years. Initially, he was planning to continue using his secret identity at least until he understood the reason behind this, but…
"Eh?"
What happened today had only accelerated his part in their Society's 'coming out' plan. Whether it was the timing, the numbers, or even the monsters that intercepted the two pillars who emerged from their hidden observation spots… All of these leads pointed towards the fact that the Righteous Faction was already compromised by this unknown yet extremely dangerous enemy!
"Ahem… The Heavenly Strength Society will be temporarily helping with the eradication of this common enemy."