Only I Am A Reader

As humanity's makeshift army disassembled, the Heavenly Strength Society's members that made up 95% of their fighting ability marched back into Mount Heaven. However, unlike how the other murim forces saw it, their situation wasn't that much better in comparison.

If one were to just consider numbers, then it was undeniable that the Heavenly Strength Society had the lowest amount of casualties, but that was the worst way to look at it. In the members' eyes, they were the ones to bore the biggest loss…

Although they didn't go back to find their treasury ransacked since Mount Heaven was impenetrable, losing the Society Leader wasn't something they could take with ease. Unlike other forces like the Noble Sword Family where subordinates were waiting for the chance to usurp power from their heads, the leader's position was more than an exchangeable glove for the Society!

While they had passed the phase where the Heavenly Demon was the highest form of being and the target of their absolute respect, this actually made the situation harder to accept. In those old days, the position was desirable and attainable by anyone strong enough to take just like how the rest of the world worked, only in a more barbaric manner. The identity reset that they had undergone was precisely what changed that.

Going back to their original course and embracing their role as guardians to the specific threat of otherworldly demons, the Society Leader position became more meaningful. Only those that truly qualified to stand against the threat when the time came had the chance to sit on the throne, and that created a certain kind of vibe within the Heavenly Strength Society…

Everyone had their own role, those that had enough talent and strength could climb up, but it was all to better the Society, which by correlation better their life. The position that was formerly referred to as the Heavenly Demon was the figurehead standing at the top of it.

He wasn't just one of the few Profound Martial Martials in murim, Cheon Ma was the only one that held the absolute say in the Heavenly Strength Society. With him gone, both the head of the spear as well as the latches that held the rest of the pieces together could also be said to have disappeared.

'I knew it was going to be a headache.'

Naturally, Leo knew all about the heists that would hit Murim's big organizations right after the final monster war's conclusion as well as the one behind them. Unfortunately, his hands were tied considering the current state of the Society…

If the departed Heavenly Demon was still among them, or if it was at least possible for him to survive, Leo might have tried to give him a heads-up using his 'guts' as an excuse for one more time. If the infiltrators of the Society were on the scene, they could easily stop the whole movement in the cradle. That being said, the chances that such an attempt would produce any results weren't that high.

It was okay to use instinctive judgment as an excuse when the matter was focused on them like the Azure Tree Race or the Northern Ice Palace outing. However, even if the Heavenly Demon had acted like the cool uncle who always says yes so far, with no evidence to support his claim, following Leo's suggestion would have been too much, especially when it could drag the Society to the mud with the other big names around.

Of course, now that the Heavenly Demon had logged out with his act of noble sacrifice, utilizing the Heavenly Strength Society's abilities was completely out of the question, so Leo decided to just give up on the information advantage for one last time and focus on the topic at hand.

"Move them here!"

The first thing that the members did after going back home was tend to the wounded. Just like every other organization, the Heavenly Strength Society had its own set of medical staff that contained quite the famous names just like the Four Pillars. Those who didn't suffer from serious injuries moved in those who did.

Considering the excessive training that was usually conducted in Mount Heaven and the big supply of elixirs that enhanced a Martial Artist's healing factor, the members were used to the injuries. Plus, the situation was far easier than it was at actual hospitals. Almost everyone that made it back survived, and the rest of the crew quickly started to settle back in.

It wasn't every day that one would go to war like that. The battles against monsters so far were nothing like standing in front of that horde. Even if the amount of effort that they put in wasn't that much different considering their numbers, most still needed to recover from the shock of it all before things could go back to normal.

"Is everyone here?"

However, there were some specific people who couldn't get that chance to rest and refresh. The death of the Heavenly Demon usually meant the start of the Heavenly Strength Summit. Only in the case where the Society Leader had already picked his successor and passed down his role as a guardian that no such thing would be needed.

"It should be, all of the Scarlet Sky tokens had been gathered."

Until the assignment of the next Society Leader, the authority within the Society could only be split within the Scarlet Sky Council. Starting with the Four Pillars and going all the way down to the ranks of the Scarlet Sky Warriors, every one of them would have a say in all the decisions!

It had only been one day since the end of the war, but they had all joined to take care of the glaring issue that came about unexpectedly.

"Does anyone have anything to say before we start on the main topic?"

The ones steering the conversation were none other than the members of the Four Pillars. There was no rule such as 'the strongest had all of the power', but ranks did matter, and since there was no clear distinction in rank within the four, the Blade Spirit was the one handling it as the most talkative pillar!