Chapter 25
“Vice Cult Leader. The Blood River Great Demon Water has been prepared.”
“……You’ve done well.”
The old man whose whole body was dyed a deathly pale blue.
Moreover, looking at his empty left pupil, it was extremely sinister. The old man was none other than the Right Heavenly Demon Sword, No Yeong-myeong.
He still trembled with killing intent whenever he thought of So-ah’s face.
Although he had retreated after being jointly attacked by the members of the Martial Alliance, the masters of the Qingcheng and Wudang Sects, the Beggars’ Sect Chief, Abbess Hong-ryeon, and the Moyong family head, he thought that if he hadn’t lost one eye because of So-ah, he could have slaughtered them all.
‘I should have killed them all… I… even if it meant mutual destruction, I should have killed them.’
No Yeong-myeong frowned and took a step forward.
—Bubble, bubble…
The place he was heading to was a bath filled with a crimson liquid.
As the steam rising from the bath hit his nose, a thick smell of blood and a disgusting fishy smell arose.
“It’s been made properly.”
“That is correct. The blood and internal organs of 100 living men and women, the inner cores of 30 venomous snakes, 30 arrow-poison snakes, and 30 blood-poison snakes were used as raw materials, and 72 kinds of medicinal herbs were added. It is a Blood River Great Demon Water bath that has been recreated without a single error from the <Regeneration, Vitality> section of the demonic arts secret book, the Alchemy Book.”
At the man in black’s words, No Yeong-myeong threw off his clothes and laid his body in the bath.
“Ah…!”
At that, a strange thing happened.
Didn’t the skin color of No Yeong-myeong, which had been dyed a deathly pale blue like a dead corpse, change to a rosy color like that of a young man?
But this was just the beginning.
“Ugh…!!”
The crimson liquid in the bath pooled in his left eye socket.
Then, the pooled blood formed a small sphere, and surprisingly, that sphere eventually changed into a human eyeball.
“……!”
A light of astonishment filled the eyes of the man in black who was watching.
He had never imagined that the Blood River Great Demon Water could even regenerate a human eyeball.
“Kuaaaaargh!!!”
But No Yeong-myeong let out a scream.
An extreme pain that could not be expressed in words assailed him.
An intense burning sensation as if his soul and body were being burned by fire…
It was something that even he, whose mental strength had reached a divine level, could not endure.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
The groan continued as a scream.
Only after a whole shichen had passed could No Yeong-myeong finally close his mouth.
And he, who had escaped from the shackles of that miserable pain,
“The efficacy of the Blood River Great Demon Water is amazing…! My internal injuries were so severe that they could not possibly be healed in a day or a night!”
He truly expressed his admiration.
And for good reason.
In just one shichen, dozens of sword marks and the palm poison that had seeped into his five organs had completely disappeared, and he had found his lost eye. How amazing was that?
The man in black also spoke with an admiring look.
“The people of the world regard the unorthodox path as sinister and a lowly trick, but the great arts and magic of the heavenly books are truly a blessing of heaven and earth!”
“Kekeke, it is a harmony and blessing of heaven and earth that the trash of the Orthodox Faction, who pretend to be noble and follow the righteous path, can never know.”
“If the demonic arts secret books and the ten great monsters being developed and restored in the main mountain research building are recreated, our cult will be able to not only conquer the martial world but also the entire world.”
“That’s right. Conquer the martial world? If it were just that kind of resolution, I would not have sold my soul to the Blood God in the first place. I will put only the world, the entire world, in my grasp. Kuhahahaha!”
No Yeong-myeong let out a loud laugh towards the sky.
The glinting bloody light and the loud laugh…
It was not the appearance of a normal human being.
He was clearly like a madman addicted to something.
Whether what made him mad was a dirty greed, an ambition for power, or some unknown demonic ki, that madness would surely reveal its true form in a merciless and cruel way.
Someday, for sure.
***
“Cult Leader… why have you come?”
“I have come to reprimand you for your rashness.”
Someone visited No Yeong-myeong.
The visitor was the only one who could make No Yeong-myeong prostrate himself.
A person remembered as dead by the world.
The former cult leader of the exterminated Asura Blood Cult and the one who had become the cult leader of the new Blood Cult that was about to have a new beginning.
It was the Blood Demon, Tae Ho-gong.
“I have no words to say, even if I had ten mouths, Cult Leader.”
“Was it because of a personal grudge?”
“It was just curiosity.”
“So? Is this the result of that curiosity’s outburst?”
“I will gladly accept any punishment.”
“How amusing. Will you even die if I tell you to?”
“Cult Leader…!”
“Following the Ghost Demon Jiangshi, one of the Twin Demon Geezers has been revealed to the world. The day the trash of the Orthodox Faction gets a hold of our cult’s tail, everything will be over.”
No Yeong-myeong knelt at the reprimand of the Blood Demon, Tae Ho-gong.
“I will handle it, no matter what.”
“Tsk tsk, you still haven’t come to your senses. Now is the time to hide your claws. Your sworn brother said to teach you a lesson.”
“…”
“But the Right Heavenly Demon Sword, No Yeong-myeong, is a person needed by our cult. I will make a special exception this time.”
“Your grace is boundless!”
“Vice Cult Leader.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
“Have you forgotten?”
“What do you mean?”
“The sorrowful day when the Twin Demon Geezers, who reigned as the legends of the Unorthodox Path, knelt before one person, the God of War, Moyong Cheon, and had their heart meridians severed.”
“I have not forgotten.”
“You must endure for now. The God of War and the Heavenly Demon are alive, and the power of our cult is still incomplete. The great plan cannot be achieved by rushing. Do you understand?”
“I will keep that in mind.”
“Then that’s enough.”
The Blood Demon, Tae Ho-gong, gently helped the kneeling No Yeong-myeong up.
Tae Ho-gong was a cruel man.
He was in the past, and now he was even worse. He was a cold-blooded man and a murderer who would offer hundreds of humans as sacrifices in a single day.
But he was merciful to No Yeong-myeong.
‘This man is the most outstanding sorcerer of our cult.’
No Yeong-myeong was still a person needed by Tae Ho-gong.
“Vice Cult Leader.”
“Yes, Cult Leader.”
“Fortune favors the patient. In three years, when the God of War dies and we can reveal ourselves to the world. I will give you that young brat who put you in a predicament as a gift. Skin him, drink his blood, and take his soul.”
The corners of No Yeong-myeong’s mouth lifted sinisterly.
***
Three years later…
Hunan, Zhangjiajie, Tianmen Mountain.
So-ah climbed to the top of Tianmen Mountain and looked down at the world spread out below the cliff.
Three years.
In the meantime, So-ah had lived half-mad.
‘Martial arts are…’
“Hoo…”
He let out a low sigh.
It was the moment So-ah’s three-year training journey ended.
‘A fight!’
Martial (武) and Combat (鬪)!
So-ah had established his own philosophy on these things.
Duels between masters.
Duels between intermediate fighters.
Duels between low-level fighters, and even fights between animals. So-ah had madly searched the world for three years to watch them.
In the midst of this, he had realized one truth.
That a fight is by no means something that can be won just by possessing outstanding martial arts.
It went without saying that those who had learned famous martial arts were defeated by third-rate martial arts, and he had even seen a large dog run away from a single chicken.
In such a series of processes, So-ah had keenly felt that there are only strong people in this world, not strong martial arts, and that the outcome of a fight can be overturned at any time depending on one’s will.
‘Grandpa. I understand now.’
Only now did So-ah understand his grandfather’s teaching to watch all the fights in the world.
And,
‘I miss you, Grandpa.’
The time had come.
The time to return to meet his missed grandpa…
He suddenly thought of the Samryun Peak estate.
The flowers in the full-bloom garden.
The large boulder where he always sat in the lotus position and circulated the Great Whale Heart Law.
Huin-dung-i, who always followed him around.
Above all, his grandfather’s gentle smile was vividly drawn in his mind.
‘I’m coming now.’
The eighteen-year-old So-ah, who had grown up so much that he had shed his youthful appearance, took a step to return home.
***
“Hoo… hooooop!”
The breathing method of the Great Whale Heart Law is extraordinary.
It was something that Moyong Cheon had newly created by combining his own enlightenment with the family’s heart law, the Heaven and Earth Invincible Art. In order to perform the Ten-Second Invincible Arts, which was focused on a single-strike kill, a momentary explosive power was essential, and the Great Whale Heart Law was an internal energy technique that had been modified and created to be most suitable for it.
Moyong Cheon had practiced the Great Whale Heart Law without missing a single day for the past several decades.
And today, he could explode his internal energy at any time, in an instant, just by controlling his breathing.
‘I…’
The sun was setting over the western mountains.
Looking at the red-burning sunset, Moyong Cheon was lost in thought for a moment.
‘Can I defeat old man Wi-ji?’
It had been ten years since he had settled in the Samryun Peak estate.
Moyong Cheon had asked himself this question without missing a single day.
And today.
For the first time, he was able to answer that question.
‘I will never be defeated!’
His wrinkled hand clenched into a tight fist.
***
The sun had set, and a dark night had come.
“Ka-heung!!”
Huin-dung-i, who had grown so much that the words “mountain hero” suited him well, let out a low roar. Moyong Cheon, who was sitting on the main floor and looking at the stars, smiled with satisfaction.
“Hoho, Huin-dung-i. You seem to be happy to see the guests too.”
At that, Huin-dung-i approached Moyong Cheon and pushed his head against him.
As if asking to be petted.
Moyong Cheon patted Huin-dung-i’s head once, then got up from his seat and headed towards the entrance of the estate.
His ki sense had been feeling a human presence for a long time.
Although no one had visited the estate since So-ah had descended the mountain, Moyong Cheon did not doubt that this human presence was a welcome guest.
And a little later.
As expected, the figures he had missed so much were entering the estate one after another.
“Father!”
“Father-in-law!”
“Grandpa!”
They were the members of the Moyong Family.
Moyong Cheon’s family.
“Baek-ah. My dear… Hwa-ah!”
Moyong Cheon’s gaze trembled slightly.
How could it not?
They say that even mountains and rivers change in ten years.
As the longing and affection of those long years collapsed in an instant, tears could not help but well up in Moyong Cheon’s eyes.
“Father!”
“Father-in-law!”
Moyong Baek and his wife, Yeon So-so, held Moyong Cheon’s hand tightly.
“Grandpa!”
Moyong Hwa, who had met her grandfather after ten years, snuggled into his arms.
“Have you all been well?”
For the first time in a long time, a smile bloomed on Moyong Cheon’s face.
“You’re too much! Grandpa! How could you not come home even once in ten years? You only sent… that strange senior brother!”
Moyong Hwa whined at her grandfather.
Although she was now a proper seventeen-year-old girl, not a child, she wanted to be endlessly childish to her grandfather.
“I’m sorry. Hwa-ah. By the way, a strange senior brother? What do you mean by that? Are you perhaps talking about our So-ah?”
At that, Moyong Baek smiled brightly and answered Moyong Cheon’s question.
“Haha. Father. It just happened that way. Isn’t So-ah your top disciple? I thought it would be right for Hwa-ah to at least serve him as a senior brother, so I sorted out the hierarchy that way.”
“Hoho. Hohoho! You did well, you did very well. Come to think of it, So-ah was one year older than Hwa-ah, right?”
“Yes. That is correct, Father.”
Moyong Cheon’s gaze turned to Moyong Hwa again.
“Hwa-ah.”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
“So-ah will be a truly great senior brother to you.”
“Grandpa…”
“You must follow your senior brother well. Do you understand?”
Moyong Cheon’s question.
Moyong Hwa suddenly thought of her senior brother, So-ah, whom she had parted with three years ago.
‘He must be doing well, right? Hmph.’
Then she spoke in a sharp voice.
“Hmph! Grandpa, you like your senior brother more than this granddaughter, right? Right? Hoho.”
Just then.
“Ka-heu-heung!”
Huin-dung-i suddenly became restless and let out a somewhat mournful cry.
It was a sound as if he were eagerly searching for someone he had been waiting for for a long time.
“Hwa-ah. This old grandpa cherishes both you and So-ah equally. It seems So-ah has arrived now, so go and welcome your senior brother.”
(End of Chapter)