Chapter 99
At this moment, information about the Blood Cult flashed rapidly through Jaseong's mind.
There were two infamous heretical sects in the central plains.
One was the Demonic Cult, which once stained the world with blood during the Great Heavenly Demon War.
The other was the Blood Cult, one of the Four Great Clans and Seven Sects of the Evil Path Association.
No one knew the exact origins of the Blood Cult.
There were rumors that the sect was founded by an expert who had fled from the Demonic Cult centuries ago, and others claimed it was a heretical faith that swept in from the western regions.
Originally, the Blood Cult had no ties to any organization, unlike the Demonic Cult.
It operated independently as a heretical group.
However, things changed with the outbreak of the Righteous-Demonic War.
The Blood Cult sided with the unorthodox sects and fought against the orthodox factions, ultimately becoming one of the seven sects of the Evil Path Association.
Of course, even within the unorthodox sects, the Blood Cult was shunned.
Their martial arts were simply too cruel and wicked.
Especially infamous was their sacrificial sorcery—Blood Sacrifice Technique—which involved offering living people as sacrifices, an act that no one in the central plains could comprehend.
"What do you say! Will you join our Blood Cult?!"
The red-haired middle-aged man's voice was brimming with confidence.
He seemed certain that Jaseong and Gu Janghu would accept the Blood Cult's offer.
Otherwise, they would be killed here by the Blood Cult's experts.
But at that moment—
Srrrng—
Jaseong drew his sword.
At the same time, Gu Janghu also drew his twin swords from his back.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The middle-aged man's eyebrows shot up.
"Surely you don't think that the two of you, merely expert-class, can defeat us all?"
Jaseong replied coldly,
"Expert-class? Who are you calling expert-class?"
"What...?"
Just as the middle-aged man looked puzzled,
Goooooooh!
A surging wave of explosive energy burst forth from Jaseong's body.
Like a massive tidal wave, the overwhelming energy crashed out in all directions.
"Wh-What is this...!"
As they watched Jaseong's energy ripping through the air, the Blood Cult members' eyes widened in shock.
They'd assumed Jaseong was at the end of the second rate or the beginning of the first, but suddenly he was emanating the presence of a peak expert—something that was utterly shocking for them.
But that wasn't the only surprise.
Kuuuu—
Gu Janghu also began to radiate the undeniable energy of a peak expert.
A chilling, sinister energy flowed from his twin swords, infecting the air all around them.
"Two peak experts...?!"
The red-haired middle-aged man muttered in disbelief.
And the next moment—
Swish! Swish!
Jaseong and Gu Janghu's movements vanished before everyone's eyes.
"Form the defensive line!"
The middle-aged man shouted hurriedly.
The Blood Cult members quickly drew their swords and formed a battle formation.
But—
Flash! Flash!
Jaseong's sword flashed like lightning in the air.
'Heaven Evading Flash Sword, third move: Hundred Descending Calamities.'
Dozens of sword-lights poured down like thunderbolts.
Along with it, the Blood Cult's formation was torn apart like paper.
"Graak!"
"Keurgh!"
The three Blood Cult members at the very front spat blood and collapsed at once.
Panicking, the red-haired middle-aged man gathered a surge of true ki in both hands and unleashed an attack at Jaseong.
"Blood Heaven Asura Art!"
An aura as red as blood sought to engulf Jaseong.
Chuak!
But the red-haired man's Blood Heaven Asura Art never reached Jaseong.
Gu Janghu's twin swords appeared like shadows, slicing the man's back.
"Keoheogh!!"
Even before the enemy could react, Gu Janghu's silent footwork closed the distance and tore through flesh.
Before such technique, their enemies evaporated in an instant.
The Blood Cult members, fierce a moment ago, could do nothing but scream now.
* * *
About a quarter of an hour later.
"Gaaaaah..."
The fight ended easily.
In the middle of the empty plains, over a dozen Blood Cult members lay sprawled on the ground, coughing up blood and fading into nothingness.
Above them, Jaseong and Gu Janghu calmly caught their breath, not a drop of blood spattered on their martial robes.
As if their battle had been as effortless as a stroll.
Truly overwhelming force.
But it was only natural.
Even dozens of expert-class fighters are no match for a peak expert.
No matter how elite the Blood Cult members, a dozen or so couldn't even scratch Jaseong and Gu Janghu.
"Khak! Who... who are you people... Khak! Just... just where did experts like you come from...?"
The red-haired man spat blood, asking in a trembling voice.
Jaseong sheathed his sword and answered coldly.
"Hao Sect Ansun branch. I'm the leader."
"The Ansun branch leader...?!"
The man's eyes widened.
Jaseong's rising influence and reputation in the martial world meant more and more people had heard of his Prestige.
Chuaak!
The middle-aged man tried to say more, but Gu Janghu ended his life without a moment's hesitation.
Blood Cult scum simply weren't worth sparing.
"Lucky we found and eliminated these Blood Cult spies. But, leader."
"?"
"What about our infiltration of the Tianxia Association now?"
Gu Janghu asked.
The cadre who was supposed to take them to the upper management of the Tianxia Association turned out to be a Blood Cult spy, leaving them back at square one.
Jaseong paused, looking up at the sky in thought.
But at that moment—
Flap— Flap—
A dark shadow came flying through the air.
A black hawk approached, wings flapping.
This was a special message bird that only the leader of the Hao Sect Ansun branch could command.
It had tracked the scent of the unique tracing incense hidden in Jaseong's inner pocket.
'... Hyang-I sent a carrier pigeon. Is this the reply to the carrier pigeon I sent the other day?'
Muttering as he untied the small bamboo tube from the hawk's leg, Jaseong thought to himself.
Before storming the headquarters of the Tianxia Association, Jaseong had visited a nearby Hao Sect branch and sent Hyang-I a carrier pigeon.
He had asked her to investigate the woman who controlled thousands of snakes near Guangwon, Sichuan Province.
As expected, the reply from Hyang-I contained information about the 'snake woman'.
[Praying this correspondence reaches the leader safely.
Hao Sect Ansun branch's secretary Hyang-I reporting.
First, as for the snake woman you ordered me to investigate:
As a result of our inquiry, the only one in the martial world who commands swarms of thousands of snakes is the Poison Valley.
In Poison Valley, that horde is called the Thousand Snake Formation.
Poison Valley has completely vanished from the martial world since the Righteous-Demonic War, so most in the martial world have forgotten its existence.
But within the unorthodox sects, Poison Valley still wields fearsome Prestige.
While their martial skills lag somewhat behind other clans, their assassination techniques using poison are second to none.
They are one of the few powers in the martial world feared by all.]
'Poison Valley... Was that woman the successor of Poison Valley?'
Reading Hyang-I's letter, Jaseong recalled Dokgo Yeon.
He still remembered the anger in her eyes as she raged over him killing her beloved snakes.
Gu Janghu, too, looked a bit surprised as he realized the snake woman's identity.
"We've been in Sichuan Province not even two days, and here we are facing both Poison Valley and the Blood Cult."
"..."
"I'd suspected as much, but this mission isn't just about the Tianxia Association—it's going to be a war with every unorthodox sect in existence."
If the job was only to conquer the Tianxia Association, Jaseong and Gu Janghu's combined peak strength would have been more than enough.
But their true enemies were the many unorthodox sects encircling the Tianxia Association.
The next page of Hyang-I's carrier pigeon letter confirmed this fact.
[Second, information regarding the Black Star Sect.
We've learned that Heuk Muguk, famed as a descendant of the Sword Demon, has set out for Sichuan Province.
He's a formidable expert who once took down a Qingcheng Sect elder in under a minute—exercise caution.]
'A descendant of the Sword Demon... We haven't even begun our infiltration of the Tianxia Association, and yet the enemies keep piling up.'
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Jaseong turned to the next page of the carrier pigeon's letter.
Hyang-I still had more secrets to reveal.
At that very moment—
'Hmm...?'
On that page, there was a completely unexpected method for directly infiltrating the Tianxia Association's upper management.
* * *
The last page of Hyang-I's missive read as follows:
[Third, information on the Blood Cult.
We have learned that the Blood Cult has already infiltrated the Tianxia Association on a large scale.
They have eliminated existing Tianxia Association cadres and use face-skin masks to disguise themselves as those cadres.
Therefore, inside the Tianxia Association, you must not easily trust anyone.
Please take care.]
After reading the message, Gu Janghu spoke.
"This time, secretary Hyang was a step late. We only got this intel after already running into the Blood Cult."
"The Blood Cult moves that covertly—can't be helped. But thanks to Hyang-I, we've got a clue for infiltrating the Tianxia Association."
"A clue for infiltration?"
Jaseong slowly approached the corpses of the Blood Cult spies.
He bent down and searched their satchels one by one.
"Here it is."
From a satchel, Jaseong withdrew a face-skin mask made from a real person's flayed face.
Beside it was also a black badge—the insignia of a Tianxia Association cadre.
Just as Hyang-I reported, some Blood Cult spies had assassinated Tianxia Association cadres and were impersonating them.
"As expected... With this, we can slip directly into the heart of the Tianxia Association."
Gu Janghu murmured with interest.
Jaseong pressed the mask to his face and carefully smoothed the edges with his fingertips.
The skin and the mask adhered seamlessly, creating the face of a completely different man.
"Gu Janghu. You put one on, too."
Jaseong handed him another mask from the satchel.
Soon Gu Janghu also wore a perfect stranger's face.
"Now our names are... Poong Gong-un and Pan Jung-in."
Jaseong read the black badge from the satchel.
It kindly stated the Tianxia Association cadre's name and position.
"The position is... Red-rank cadre."
The Tianxia Association's cadres were divided into Black, red, and Blue ranks.
Jaseong and Gu Janghu would pass as red, the middle rank.
In some ways, red-rank was the best choice for infiltration.
Black-rank cadres were upper managers overseeing the black market, moneylending, weapons trade, and more—therefore very few in number and difficult to impersonate without arousing suspicion.
In comparison, there were many blue-rank cadres, but their authority was too limited.
Thus, red-rank made for the ideal cover as a spy.
'That's probably why the Blood Cult targeted a red-rank cadre in the first place.'
Jaseong then changed into the red martial robes, the symbol of a red-rank cadre, drawn from the satchel.
"But, leader."
"?"
"The fact that the unorthodox sects are going to these lengths to seize the Tianxia Association... Do you think the Association's master really has the Evil Path Association Leader's seal?"
Gu Janghu's guess was plausible, and Jaseong fell silent for a moment in thought.
"If that's the case... This mission wouldn't just be about taking over the Tianxia Association, but even the Evil Path Association as a whole. If the lord's seal really is in the Association's hands..."
Muttering to himself, Jaseong took a small pouch from his clothes and dabbed some tracing incense onto the black hawk's beak.
The hawk let out a satisfied screech and flapped away into the sky.
Just as he finished disguising himself and sent off the hawk, it happened.
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
From the darkness far away, the sound of dozens of feet running reached their ears.