Training the Masses (2)

"And as for the executives, Baek Il, and anyone else who would help run this cult, you will be training directly with me."

Everyone in the crowd turned their heads to look at Baek Il, who only nodded his head to confirm what I had said was true. Had Baek Il not been there, things surely would have gotten out of hand.

But despite Baek Il confirmation, a handful of the cult members didn't believe the current situation.

"Cult leader, this is a great joke, but we should really kill these two and get on with our day. Nothing good comes from wasting time on jokes."

"Yeah! Those three are nobodies, they won't be able to train all of us!"

Those were some of the notable voices I heard, I had expected some of them to not believe me, so it wasn't going to be a hassle showing them why they were wrong.

I raised my internal energy and flicked my hand upwards, drawing Pyo Kang, Pyo Yong, and the dragon horn blade from our waists and into the air. The three weapons quickly flew toward the crowd at high speeds, stopping in the faces of those who thought this situation was a joke.

Within seconds the laughter and voices echoing through the plaza died. With three razor sharp weapons being pointed at those who spoke out against me, the crowd soon realized that this was no joke.

"Now that you all realize that this is no joke, should I give a demonstration as to what will happen if you disobey me, or my disciples?"

I swiftly moved my arm forward and slashed down to my right, directing the movements of the three weapons I controlled. Three simultaneous thuds sounded out through the plaza as the three swords cut down the left arms of those who spoke against me.

Three blood curdling screams followed a few seconds later as the three weapons I controlled returned to my side, leaving a trail of blood to drip onto the heads of the cultists as they moved.

"That was to show I'm not afraid to harm those who speak out against this plan, and next time, it won't be an arm or leg that gets removed, but your head."

Now that those who disapprove are taken care of, I can get this show running.

"Those whose arms I just cut off, grab your arm and come up to us, I will have it reattached, so you don't miss out on the valuable training that will be occurring today. The rest of you, listen well as I will explain the training you will enduring for the next six months."

It was quite simple what training they would be doing, as it was the same training that was done by Pyo Kang and Pyo Yong while in the forest. First the body will be trained until it reaches the optimal state, then they will learn the Cloud Origin Force to build a strong dantian and gather pure qi.

Then once they've all reached the Peak stage or higher, I will go through the process of teaching every one of them as many powerful martial arts as possible.

Explaining everything to them at once would be too much though, so I'll only explain the first part for now.

"Now, for six months you will be training physically, in the morning you will train your legs. In the middle of the day, you will train your core, and in the evening, you will train your upper body. During the time in between training sessions, you may use however you must, eating food, performing your daily tasks, and whatever else."

As the three cult members who had lost their arms walked up to us, I nodded my head to Pyo Kang and Pyo Yong, instructing them to reattach their arms. Though it was funny, during the month between killing the middle-aged Namgung clan elder and killing Namgung Jiwoo, Pyo Kang had said he found it hard to see a situation where reattaching an arm would be helpful.

So, I made it an internal note to make Pyo Kang reattach as many arms as I could cut off. Call it a lesson as to why he shouldn't bet against someone like me.

One person from the crowd soon spoke up, it was Baek Il.

"When do we start?"

Ah, he must want to work hard to try and regain his position as the Vice-leader. But that was a question he would soon regret asking.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured that out yet, Baek Il. Everyone is to run a hundred laps around the Demon Cult Headquarters, you have thirty seconds to begin."

It took the crowd of cultists ten seconds to comprehend what I had said, but by the time they did, Baek Il had already taken off toward the gates and started his laps around the headquarters.

Various slurs and cries soon erupted as almost a thousand people scrambled toward the gates at once. The strain of a thousand people pushing was almost too much for the gate to handle at once, as the hinges it relied on to move almost snapped off before everyone had gotten through.

Now that the cultists were busy with their training, it was time to begin some training of my own. The first of which was getting used to this new dragon horn blade of mine, and possibly giving it a name that would suit it.

"Pyo Kang, Pyo Yong, once you're done reattaching their arms, make sure the cultists finish all one hundred of their laps, if anyone tries to skip even a single lap give them a good chase until they finish."

"Yes, Master." Pyo Yong replied as he continued to stitch up one of the cultist's arms.

"What will you be doing, Master?" Pyo Kang asked while doing the same as Pyo Yong.

"I'm working on a new martial art. One that will surpass even the greatest martial arts of the past and future."

And without a word more, I vanished from the Demon Cult Headquarters and into the forest behind the cult leader's building. However, I didn't travel too far in, as I didn't intend on staying for long.

With the dragon horn blade in my hands, I stepped into a wide stance and raised the blade. In order to create a martial art benefiting of being called the strongest of all time, a weapon would be required. While palm arts are indeed powerful, they couldn't match the power that most of the highest-level martial arts of other weapons.

And besides, moving beyond my stagnant ways is what this training was for. And what better way to break stagnant water than by creating a new stream to flow into it?