Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon

Instead, he asked something else. 

“What are you going to do about the deaths? ”

“I plan to pay a certain amount of consolation to their families at the Cult.
I’m going to transfer their bodies back first, and then we will have funerals after the war.”

“It is fortunate we were able to recover the bodies,” nodded Woon-seong. 

War was terrible because a person living today could become a corpse tomorrow; the person who you ate with today could disappear the next. 

And often bodies couldn’t even be properly recovered. 

That was war.

But the damage was less than he had expected and they were able to recover the bodies of the fallen. 

We were really fortunate. 

“And what about those who surrendered?”

“The number of those who surrendered is about 1,700.
The 200 who attempted to resist were all decapitated.”

“What will you do with the prisoners? ”

“I plan to gather them all in one place for surveillance.
If the Leader commands it, the process will take place immediately.”

Woon-seong took a moment to think, as he was wondering what to do. 

Sang Gwan-chuk solved his problem. 

“I think it would be best if we keep them alive and let them return to their hometowns and sects.”

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Woon-seong was contemplating something along this line.
But when Sang Gwan-chuk had a similar idea, he was curious. 

“Your thoughts are similar to mine.
Why does the Strategist think so?”

Sang Gwan-chuk smiled.

He guessed why Woon-seong thought the same. 

“Don’t you want to set an example? ”

It was as he said.

Woon-seong intended to set the precedent that those who did not resist the Demonic Cult would be spared, and they could return alive. 

Absolute obedience to the Demonic Cult was not necessary. 

All they had to do was not bare your fangs or draw your sword. 

A precedent of bloodless surrender.

And what it meant to return alive was huge.

If many disciples were able to return from the battlefield alive, a sect would be able to survive the war and continue into the next generation. 

Unlike the Spear Master Sect.

Woon-seong closed his eyes.

When he thought of Nok Yu-on and the Spear Master Sect, he would still feel terribly upset. 

However, Woon-seong knew that it was not these lowly foot soldiers whom his anger targeted. 

It was those insane sect leaders who said that disciples had to be sacrificed for their cause. 

And worse than them.

The Martial Alliance. 

They were the ones who needed to be eviscerated. 

It was not necessary for others to experience the grief of sect destruction, like the Spear Master Sect had suffered.

“I feel the same way as Leader.
This is an opportunity to set an example.”

Woon-seong nodded. 

It was then that Sang Gwan-chuk added something. 

“But you can’t just send them back.”

Woon-seong lifted his brows.
“What do you mean?”

Sang Gwan-chuk looked at him, smiling as if he had anticipated the question. 

“If you just let them go like this, you can set an example, but it will not raise the dignity of the Cult.
So instead of just letting them live, we should receive what we deserve — an exchange that establishes the majesty of our Cult.”

Woon-seong tilted his head, asking, “Are you asking for money?”

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If Sang Gwan-chuk was talking about gold or goods, the Cult was involved with trade along the Silk Road and their riches piled high as a mountain. 

Do we need the gold? Woon-seong’s expression darkened. 

Sang Gwan-chuk shook his head. 

“Why don’t we do this…”

* * *

“You’ll let me live, but you want me to leave a seal on the silk?”

There was a long line of martial artists. 

One man standing in the middle of the line muttered as he looked ahead of him. 

They were all survivors of Qaidam Basin from the battle in Qinghai.

The reason they were all standing in line was because of a command from the Demonic Cult, to which they had surrendered to not long ago. 

The Cult would spare those who surrendered. 

The Cult was not vicious enough to behead enemies who did not wish to fight. 

Instead, one thing had to be left behind.

The only thing to leave behind was a seal — put some ink onto your palm and press it into the silk and you are good to go.

The strange request made all of the prisoners confused.

But they did as told. 

If they could return alive with just a handprint, then this extra step didn’t matter. 

Loyalty to the former sect leaders?

There was no such thing.

How can we consider those who ordered us to shoot arrows at our fellow members as sect leaders?

They were all glad that their friends and colleagues they spent time with had survived, even if their leaders had died. 

They were also thankful that they were able to return home and back to their sects. 

That’s why they were willing to use their handprints as a seal. 

Some felt uncomfortable.

But when the others left a seal, they did too. 

And a few days later, a new flag flew above the Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s army.

It was a flag with hundreds of handprints on it.

This flag accompanied the Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s procession, spreading its witnesses throughout the whole world. 

And of course, there were also those who were sensitive to the flag.