Chapter 115
It’s true that the martial prowess of the Demonic Cult’s followers—aside from the Heavenly Demon—wasn’t all that impressive, but that didn’t mean they were devoid of powerful figures.
Take Shadow Ghost, for instance—the one I defeated before. In my previous life, he had eventually reached Sub-Perfection and even rose to the rank of Elder.
Though the Demonic Cult lacked any true top-tier masters at the Flowering Stage, they did have a few warriors who had attained Sub-Perfection.
One of them was Jeok Yeonghu, the Blood Flame Fist Demon, another Elder of the Demonic Cult who had reached Sub-Perfection long ago.
The difference between him and Shadow Ghost? Shadow Ghost would reach Sub-Perfection in the future, but the Blood Flame Fist Demon had already attained it a while ago—even by current standards.
Though infamous, there were likely quite a few people across the Central Plains who recognized his name.
I brushed my fingers lightly over the melted stone floor, which bore tracks like those of a snake slithering through molten rock.
Naturally, no heat or demonic energy remained. All that was left was the cold, smooth texture.
As I quietly ran my hand over the floor, Tang Sowol crouched beside me and joined in brushing away the soot, asking,
“This is definitely unusual. Even if the house caught fire completely, it shouldn’t have melted the stone floor like this.” “It’s a trace of a demonic art.”
“Excuse me??”
Maybe if the evidence is right in front of me, the mental restriction won’t activate.
This time, my thoughts came out of my mouth without being blocked.
“I suspect it’s Blood Flame Serpent Life Demonic Art.”
“If it’s that technique... you mean the martial art of the Blood Flame Fist Demon?”
“You know of him?”
“Well, not as much as you do, Cheon Hwi, but since I learned that the Demonic Cult was behind the attempt on my life, I’ve looked into many things. He’s the one who caused the Blood Calamity at the Kunlun Sect around thirty years ago, right?”
She didn’t know the exact timeline, but it was true—the nickname he earned from that incident had become widely known.
As I nodded, Seo Mun-Hwarin narrowed her eyes and chimed in.
“This One has heard of the Blood Flame Fist Demon as well. Although Cheonghae and Jiangxi are far apart... the event was so infamous that even I heard rumors of it.”
“What kind of incident was it, Sister Seorin?”
Seol Lihyang, though she knew the basics now, still had far more she didn’t know when it came to the affairs of Murim.
At her calling Seo Mun-Hwarin “Sister,” Peng Woojin and Yeon Ga-hye—who had been respectfully calling her Elder—wore complicated expressions, but Seo Mun-Hwarin remained unshaken and explained,
“The story goes that the Blood Flame Fist Demon, seeking revenge for his father who was beaten to death by a Kunlun Daoist, set fire to every young disciple of the Kunlun Sect he came across.”
“Sure, it’s sad when a Demonic Cultist goes overboard with revenge, but it’s not really surprising... Are you saying the Kunlun Daoist actually did that first?”
Seol Lihyang widened her eyes in disbelief.
She had learned that righteous sect members—especially Daoist warriors—would never commit such acts.
But—
“There are always exceptions. These are only rumors, so I can’t confirm every detail... but they say a notorious merchant’s son paid a massive donation to enter the Kunlun Sect and couldn’t fix his rotten habits. He supposedly caused an incident while secretly drinking.”
“So he was a bad person from the start. But why did the Kunlun Sect accept him? Was it really because of money? I can’t imagine a group like Kunlun stooping so low.”
“There may have been financial reasons, but more than that, it’s likely due to the Daoist belief that accumulating virtue leads to enlightenment. Guiding the lost is considered a significant act of virtue.”
She was right. Though many Daoists today have grown more secular, they still pursue virtue.
Unlike noble clans, which value blood ties and tend to keep their own close whether they’re good or bad, sects can choose whom they accept.
That doesn’t mean Wudang or Mount Hua only take in talented people either.
Most of those accepted into Daoist sects are orphans who lost their parents in incidents, or children abandoned by families too poor to raise them.
It’s rare for a sect to accept a rich family’s child or a genius with great talent.
They mainly take in those who have nowhere else to go, those who wouldn’t survive on their own, or those who have wandered for a long time and truly want to change.
From a practical standpoint, this may seem inefficient.
But when viewed through the lens of accumulating virtue, it makes sense.
That said, some wealthy families still try to dump their problem children on the sects from time to time.
If the child is truly incorrigible, the sect will reject them, of course. But if they’re only moderately troublesome, they’ll usually be accepted.
Still, things don’t always go well.
Every so often, incidents and accidents happen. Murder is rare—but not unheard of.
Seol Lihyang nodded with a complex expression.
“I think I get it now. So the Blood Flame Fist Demon held a grudge against the Kunlun Sect for not managing their disciple properly and got his revenge after joining the Demonic Cult.”
“Your understanding is correct, but... you can’t call that revenge. He didn’t just go after the person responsible—he burned countless innocent people alive. Revenge usually lacks righteousness, but this was just the rampage of a mad killer. That’s why he was called the Blood Flame Fist Demon.”
“I see… I’ll remember that. So that nickname wasn’t just because he was good with fire and his fists, huh?”
Seol Lihyang tilted her head, and this time, I answered her.
“The ‘Blood Flame’ part comes from his yang-type demonic art, Blood Flame Serpent Life Demonic Art. And yes, ‘Fist’ is there because that’s his primary technique. But the ‘Demon’ part wasn’t because he was from the Demonic Cult—it was because he truly earned it through his actions.”
“You and Sister Seorin both speak so decisively about him. I’ve heard the term ‘Blood Calamity’ before, but what exactly did he do?”
“It’s good you remember. Then here’s a question: what do you think happened to the Kunlun warrior who beat the Blood Flame Fist Demon’s father to death?”
“Huh? Let’s see…”
Seol Lihyang tapped her chin with her finger and tilted her head.
“Well, since he committed murder, he was probably handed over to the authorities, or maybe locked up in Kunlun’s prison? Considering the Blood Flame Fist Demon sought revenge later, I guess he didn’t die right away.”
“Close. He was imprisoned in Kunlun’s dungeon and released about ten years later. He sincerely repented and lived out his life helping others—up until the moment he was killed by the Blood Flame Fist Demon.”
“Huh?!”
Seol Lihyang blinked in shock, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
But it was true.
In my previous life, after narrowly surviving a battle against the Blood Flame Fist Demon, I had gone around gathering information about him—speaking with seasoned masters and survivors of the Kunlun Sect.
From what I learned, the Kunlun warrior who had killed his father changed completely after the incident.
He never turned a blind eye to injustice. He spared even the most vicious opponents, making them pay in other ways.
Whenever he had time, he sought out the Blood Flame Fist Demon, hoping to give back everything he had—his wealth, and even his life.
Most people don’t change.
But he spent over a decade in the dungeon, tormented by guilt, and only found peace by performing good deeds.
The Kunlun Sect must’ve recognized this, since they officially reinstated him as a disciple after his release.
So when the Blood Flame Fist Demon finally returned, already at Sub-Perfection, he could’ve easily taken his revenge.
But by then, it wasn’t so simple—neither for him nor for the Kunlun Sect.
“He’d spent his whole life sharpening his blade for revenge, only to learn it was unnecessary. He exacted his justice, but everyone pointed fingers. He came face-to-face with the emptiness of it all—his purpose shattered. And when that moment of denial hit... a person breaks.”
“Sounds like he was still sane up to that point.”
“Which only made his fall worse. He was already suffering from the side effects of Blood Flame Serpent Life Demonic Art, and that was the final push. He completely lost his self-control.”
Blood Flame Serpent Life Demonic Art is among the most powerful demonic arts.
It relies heavily on the practitioner’s innate yang energy, and for those with enough, it becomes one of the most destructive techniques in all of Murim.
The problem is that it burns even its own master.
As a technique that intensifies in the presence of blood, it begins to burn the practitioner’s own blood as well.
Once someone reaches a certain level in it, they constantly feel searing pain.
And the stronger they become, the worse it gets.
They can’t sleep, they burn with agony at all hours, and become irritable and unstable.
The Blood Flame Fist Demon had managed to hold on to sanity through his obsessive focus on revenge.
But once he lost that purpose, all that remained was his still-smoldering grudge—and a martial art that burned everything it touched.
“And so, after completing his revenge, he returned to Kunlun.
There, he began burning alive every disciple the man had helped—all the young ones he had raised.”
“W-What...?”
Seol Lihyang nodded faintly, her expression blank.
Over the years, how many lives had that man saved?
Surely dozens—perhaps even hundreds of people died by the Blood Flame Fist Demon’s hands.
The Kunlun Sect didn’t sit idle, of course.
But since he avoided direct confrontation and only targeted the weak, they were driven to despair.
He slaughtered over half of the next generation of Kunlun disciples, along with countless civilians in surrounding villages.
Only then was he caught by Kunlun’s Heaven-Net Formation.
Not only the elders at Sub-Perfection, but even the Sect Leader at the Flowering Stage came out to personally cut him down.
He had no escape.
The issue was, Cheonghae—unlike other regions—shared a direct border with Xinjiang, where the Demonic Cult resided.
Upon hearing of it, the Cult sent reinforcements.
And in the end, they managed to extract the Blood Flame Fist Demon.
Of course, most of the Cult’s elite were slaughtered in the process.
But still—he survived.
After that, he continued committing massacres large and small.
He became one of Murim’s greatest threats.
Then, at some point… he vanished.
Everyone assumed he had finally succumbed to the art’s backlash, burning himself alive.
Or that a passing swordsman had taken his head.
It wouldn’t be unusual. That’s how many like him ended.
But from what we learned while interrogating Demonic Cultists alongside Tang Jincheon, I reached a different conclusion.
The Heavenly Demon.
The Blood Flame Fist Demon’s disappearance coincided exactly with the rise of the Heavenly Demon within the Cult.
And now—seeing him move in secret, like this—I was certain.
He had become utterly devoted to the Heavenly Demon and was now following his commands.
But unlike the story of the Blood Flame Fist Demon, this theory triggered the restriction. I couldn’t say it aloud.
I was finally starting to understand the rules of the restriction.
It seemed I was allowed to speak freely about things many people already knew, like the story of the Blood Flame Fist Demon—especially with people like Seo Mun-Hwarin or Tang Sowol around, who also knew the tale.
But the Heavenly Demon? Too few people knew of him.
Even mentioning him lightly would trigger a powerful mental block.
I sighed inwardly and looked over to Peng Woojin and Yeon Ga-hye, who had been listening silently.
“With this, I think we understand the nature of our enemy. What will you do?”
“There’s no reason to turn back now that we’ve come this far.”
“I agree.”
They answered without hesitation.
But after speaking, they both started glancing nervously at Seo Mun-Hwarin.
“Hm?”
She tilted her head, not understanding their looks.
I gave a dry laugh and added,
“Right. With a Flowering Stage master like Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin supporting us, Sub-Perfection, Murim’s enemies, or even yang-based demonic arts aren’t much of a threat.”
“This One... you mean me?”
Only then did she realize why everyone had been looking at her.
She glanced around the group, then placed her hands on her hips.
Her expression full of pride.
Her heels lifting slightly in a triumphant pose.
Her lips quivering as if trying to suppress a smile.
Seo Mun-Hwarin raised her chin and declared, unmistakably showing off:
“Indeed! You may rely on This One! Be it the Blood Flame Fist Demon or anyone else, This One’s fists are stronger!”
“Oooh…”
“Truly reassuring.”
Peng Woojin and Yeon Ga-hye clapped in admiration.
But for some reason, seeing Seo Mun-Hwarin that excited only made me feel more uneasy.
***
While pursuing the Blood Flame Fist Demon, I ended up isolated—with Seol Lihyang.
“Are we screwed?”
“Not yet, so shut up!”
A strange sense of déjà vu crept over me.