Chapter 104
There was no gap to enter the tightly guarded perimeter of the Alliance.
The martial force surrounded the main gate in layers.
The guard captain, whom Baekji had seen when he first came to the Alliance, was guarding the gate.
The guard captain, seeing the approaching Baekji, shouted, "Who are you! No one can enter or leave!"
"You don't know me? We met a few days ago, have you already forgotten?"
Although the guard captain recognized Baekji, he shook his head with a stern face.
"It's a lockdown order. Go back."
"Hmm. What should I do? I have to go back to the Lighting Pit."
"..."
"There was a slight misunderstanding, so I'm staying in the Elder's Hall's Lighting Pit. You know, right? You delivered food and bedding earlier."
Since it was the first time food had been delivered to the Martial Alliance, the guard captain also knew.
But why was this brat outside?
"I came after eating dinner. But what's going on?"
"A three-colored signal flare has been raised. According to the regulations, no one can come or go! Until the situation is over..."
The guard captain, who was speaking, looked around.
It was strange.
Although a three-colored signal flare had gone off, the inside and outside of the Alliance were too quiet.
Since the Alliance was so large and the duties were all different, the guard captain did not know the details of what was happening.
"Yes. Then it's troublesome... actually, I came out without saying anything. I could be accused of escaping from prison. Let me quietly go back to the Lighting Pit."
Baekji stealthily took out a silver ingot and placed it in the guard captain's hand.
The guard captain thought it was absurd.
To ask to enter the Lighting Pit by giving a bribe.
On the other hand, he understood.
He didn't know how he had gotten out, but if he were accused of escaping from prison, he would receive a heavier punishment.
"Ahem. Why did you come out? There's no choice. You two, take him to the Elder's Hall's Lighting Pit."
The guard captain said to the two subordinates next to him.
Baekji entered, escorted by two guards.
He saw the martial forces rushing to the Elder's Hall.
"That martial force over there, are they going to the Elder's Hall?"
"Did an enemy invade the Elder's Hall?"
The anxious guards stopped at some point.
The fierce killing intent was so strong that their whole bodies tingled.
The martial force surrounded them in layers, and the masters of the inner and outer halls were positioned in various places.
"What is it?"
The martial force leader, who was blocking the road to the Lighting Pit, glared at Baekji and the guards and asked.
"The, the prisoner..."
The guards, who were just low-ranking warriors, could not answer right away and mumbled.
Baekji patted the guard's shoulder and said, "From now on, I'll go on my own. The Elder's Hall's Lighting Pit is right ahead."
"Ah, I see."
The guard hurriedly turned back.
Baekji approached the martial force leader.
"The Grand Elder, Haewol, called me."
"The Grand Elder? Why would the Grand Elder call you?"
"How would I know? A brat like me has to come when called and go when told to go. Where is the Grand Elder?"
The martial force leader asked with a disbelieving expression, "First, reveal your identity."
"I'm Baekji. The Honored One of the Household of the Tang family who caught Bai Renguang and Tang Tian'e."
"Ah!"
The martial force leader had also heard about the Honored One of the Household of the Tang family.
"Follow me. The Grand Elder is over there, in front of the Lighting Pit."
The martial force leader personally guided Baekji to Haewol.
Haewol was in the process of devising a plan to lure out the Blood Fiend who had entered the Lighting Pit with the elders.
"How about we set off a poison smoke?"
"That brat is a master of the 'manifestation realm', do you think poison smoke will work?"
"There are other prisoners, so the sacrifice will be great."
Opinions were divided.
"I will go and lure him out."
When the hot-tempered Chuganyang stepped forward, Haewol stopped him.
"If you act rashly, you might miss him. We have to strike when we can surely subdue him."
Haewol, who was speaking, saw the approaching martial force leader.
"What is it?"
The martial force leader cupped his fists and asked, "Did you call for the Honored One of the Household of the Tang family?"
"The Honored One of the Household of the Tang family?"
Haewol frowned and looked at Baekji, who was standing behind the martial force leader.
'So it's that brat.'
He recognized the brat that Gyeheuk had mentioned.
"This person said that the Grand Elder had called him, so I brought him. I will now..."
As the martial force leader was leaving, Haewol frowned and asked, "Shouldn't you be in the Lighting Pit?"
Before the Blood Fiend had entered, Tang Tian'e and Baekji had been locked up in the Lighting Pit.
Haewol had inwardly thought that the two were already dead.
"I came after eating dinner, and this is what's happening. What's wrong?"
"Dinner? Weren't you locked up in the Lighting Pit?"
Haewol could not understand Baekji's answer.
"Gyeheuk, what on earth is this brat doing?"
Then he asked the 'Chief Guarding Brigade', "Is there still no news from Brigade Leader Gye?"
"Yes. We are looking for him now."
"Hey. A 'Chief Guarding Brigade' leader, where is he and what is he doing in this emergency situation?"
He was displeased that the brat who should be commanding the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' was not seen.
And a prisoner was walking around freely.
Just then, a sound of ki exploding was heard from the Lighting Pit.
Everyone's gaze turned to the Lighting Pit.
Then, a terrible scream erupted.
"Kaaak!"
It was a scream that seemed to come from the depths of hell.
Then.
"Help!"
"Aaaah...! It's a demon!"
Baekji's eyes widened.
"Is there a monster in the Lighting Pit?"
* * *
Pung! Peo-eong!
The sound of blood points exploding from the Blood Fiend's body erupted in succession.
"Kaaak!"
The Blood Fiend let out a monstrous scream at the pain, as if his flesh were being torn.
An enormous blood ki was piercing through the fine blood vessels of his entire body.
How much time had passed?
Flash-!
When the Blood Fiend opened his eyes, a blood light exploded like lightning.
In front of the Blood Fiend was the headless body of Tang Tian'e.
Paaang!
When the Blood Fiend stretched out his hand, Tang Tian'e's body exploded.
The blood mist spread and was then sucked into the Blood Fiend's palms.
"Uhehehe..."
A monstrous laugh flowed from the Blood Fiend's mouth.
"Help!"
"Aaaah...! It's a demon!"
Gyeheuk, the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors, and the guards all screamed.
After the Blood Fiend had entered, they had been so suppressed by his ki that they could not even breathe properly.
When Tang Tian'e's body disappeared without a trace, they lost their minds in fear.
"Aaaah!"
It was a sight too terrible to be seen with the naked eye.
For a person to turn into a blood mist and then disappear without a trace...
That was not the end.
At the Blood Fiend's feet was Tang Tian'e's head.
Crack!
When the Blood Fiend stepped on Tang Tian'e's head, his eyeballs popped out.
"Aaaak!"
The guards' screams reached their peak.
The Blood Fiend slowly turned his head and glared at the screaming guards.
"Krrrr..."
Gyeheuk, whose eyes met the Blood Fiend's, unknowingly wet himself.
Whoosh!
The Blood Fiend's figure disappeared and then appeared in front of him.
Thwack!
Gyeheuk didn't even know what had happened.
Why am I flying in the air?
He saw his own body, with blood spouting from his severed neck like a fountain.
'That's me? I'm dead...'
Gyeheuk's head flew into the air and then was smashed on the ground.
The Blood Fiend, by taking Tang Tian'e's 'Blood Blood Demonic Art', had entered the threshold of the Profound Realm.
Although he had so desperately wanted enlightenment, he had forcibly broken through the wall of the 'manifestation realm' with the power of the 'Blood Blood Demonic Art'.
He trembled as if his whole body were on fire with the blood ki.
Along with the overwhelming pleasure, only the desire for blood remained.
A single remaining thread of consciousness screamed that this was wrong, but it was no use.
The excessive blood ki only wanted blood.
Paat!
Peo-eong-!
The entire bodies of Gyeheuk and the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors exploded and turned into a blood mist, which was sucked into the Blood Fiend's palms.
Goo-oh-oh...
The Blood Fiend's mouth opened, and a sound as if it were echoing from the depths of hell flowed out.
'The gate of the 'Blood Prison' is opening...'
A single remaining thread of consciousness thought so.
The infinite space in the depths of his dantian was opening.
It was the 'Blood Prison' created by the 'Blood Blood Demonic Art'.
But...
The half-open gate of the 'Blood Prison' did not move any further.
'Blood, there's not enough blood!'
The Blood Fiend's eyes, dripping with blood, looked at the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors and the guards who were tied in shackles.
"Aaaak!"
Papat!
Peo-eong!
The entire bodies of the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors and the guards exploded at once and turned into a blood mist.
As the level of the 'Blood Blood Demonic Art' deepened, he could now turn them into a blood mist and take them without even cutting their necks.
"Kehehe..."
Along with the blood mist, their souls entered.
The turbid thoughts of fear and horror engraved in their souls, along with the blood ki, rushed to the dantian and knocked on the gate of the 'Blood Prison'.
Kukung!
A heavy impact exploded in the Blood Fiend's dantian.
In an instant, the gate of the 'Blood Prison' moved a little more.
Beyond the half-open 'Blood Prison', a blood mist was swirling.
It felt like the madness of the blood mist was just waiting for the gate to open...
Just then, a voice was heard from somewhere in his consciousness.
"Blood Fiend... are you finally waking up?"
It was the Blood Cult Leader's voice.
As if in response, a 'goo-oh-oh' sound flowed from the Blood Fiend's mouth.
* * *
The Alliance Leader opened his eyes at the turbulent, ominous ki.
The Alliance Leader, who had woken up from a deep meditation, went out to the garden and looked at the sky.
He saw a swirling blood ki in the dark sky.
And even the consciousness of someone embedded in the eye of the whirlwind...
"..."
The perimeter of the Alliance Leader's office was felt.
An enemy had invaded.
That enemy would not be unrelated to that whirlwind of blood ki.
'The Blood Cult Leader!'
The Alliance Leader glared at the whirlwind of blood ki with a grave face.
The thing he had feared was happening.
'He is trying to transcend the 'natural realm'... what is beyond that...'
After failing to have a life-and-death battle with the Blood Cult Leader, he had secluded himself for ten years and had only now stepped on the threshold of the 'natural realm'.
That was why he could feel the identity of that whirlwind.
A world of superhumans that ordinary people could not see or even imagine...
Although he was called a Heaven Beyond Heaven, after stepping on the threshold of the 'natural realm', he was sensing the existence of a true Heaven Beyond Heaven.
The Alliance Leader sighed inwardly.
'Is enlightenment not enough...'
The reason why the Blood Cult Leader was obsessed with the human sacrifice of burning fresh blood must be to see beyond the 'natural realm'.
Ten years ago, when they had fought a life-and-death battle, he had thought it was a paper-thin difference...
In the meantime, the Blood Cult Leader had run one step further ahead.
The Alliance Leader stretched out his hand.
The sword that was hanging in the living room flew and was caught in his hand.
A realm where he had already abandoned the sword.
Nevertheless, the reason why he held the sword was to express his will.
The Alliance Leader's figure disappeared.
* * *
The terrible screams stopped.
A moment later, a crimson being appeared.
"Aack! What is that?"
"That brat is the Blood Fiend!"
When the Blood Fiend walked out of the Lighting Pit, screams of horror erupted from here and there.
Not only his red hair, but his entire body was the color of blood.
'Hmm. That's not the 'manifestation realm'.'
Baekji was also surprised for a moment and then realized what had happened.
'He ate Tang Tian'e. Poor Tang Tian'e...'
He remembered Tang Tian'e, who had struggled, saying that if his soul were sucked out, he would not even be able to be reincarnated.
'To become a sacrifice for the Profound Realm...'
The Blood Fiend, who was standing in front of the Lighting Pit, raised his head and looked at the sky.
Baekji also followed the Blood Fiend's gaze and glared at the whirlwind in the night sky.
A whirlwind of blood ki containing someone's consciousness.
Although it was not visible to the eyes of others, it was clearly visible in Baekji's eyes.
'It must be the Blood Cult Leader's consciousness.'
The Blood Fiend seemed to be communicating with the Blood Cult Leader's consciousness at the center of the whirlwind of blood ki.
Everyone was staring blankly at the incredibly bizarre sight of a being that did not seem human.
"Amitabha! He has been possessed by a demon and has become a demon himself!"
Haewol, for the first time in a long time, shouted a Buddhist chant and roared.
At the roar that was let out with internal energy, as if to show off the dignity of the Grand Elder, people came to their senses.
"The 'Chief Guarding Brigade', arrest the demon!"
Haewol gave the order.
"No! The martial force is no match for him."
Although Baekji tried to stop him, Haewol did not listen.
"The 'Chief Guarding Brigade'! What are you doing?"
At the strict order of the Grand Elder, the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors flew.
Swish!
Swish!
As the 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors formed a siege and rushed in, the Blood Fiend was only looking at the sky.
When the siege had narrowed to a three-zhang distance.
"...!"
The Blood Fiend lowered his gaze and looked at the approaching 'Chief Guarding Brigade' warriors.
(End of Chapter)