Chapter 6
The split and torn skin healed and then tore again. The joints creaked and broke with a snap, then fused back together.
The two energies coexisting in Cheongun's body, the energy of the atmosphere rushing in from the outside, and the energy of the sun all merged together.
"Keueuk."
The Blood Emperor swallowed the groan that was about to escape his lips.
If he opened his mouth and screamed, Cheongun's body, which was barely maintaining its balance, might explode.
A tedious tug-of-war continued. If there was even a single mistake, it would be the end.
He squeezed out even his last bit of strength to block, and restored the collapsed parts.
The consumption of mental strength was enormous. The blood energy, which could be called his source, had hit rock bottom.
But in the end, he was the victor.
The Blood Emperor barely managed to complete the twelve major circulations and stabilize his body. An indescribable freshness swept through his entire body.
"Aaaaaah!"
An exclamation flowed out of him automatically.
The bone and marrow cleansing he had longed for had been achieved. Nevertheless, there were many regrets.
He had undergone bone and marrow cleansing in extreme pain, but the vessel called Cheongun was too small.
Moreover, because the lightning energy and blood energy were incompatible, he could not properly change his body. No, it had changed well, but there was a problem.
The lightning energy had seeped into his unique divine art, the Blood Emperor Divine Art. The Blood Emperor Divine Art had become a half-baked version.
"Damn it."
A curse flowed out of him automatically.
The Blood Emperor could feel it. The absolute evil art that had stood at the pinnacle of all evil had now degenerated into a martial art that was neither righteous nor evil, neither this nor that.
The problem was that that wasn't all.
"Huh?"
"Get out of the waaaay!"
Thump!
Cheongun's body swayed back and forth as if it had been hit by something.
At the same time, the Blood Emperor was bounced out of Cheongun's body.
"It's my body! It's mine!"
Cheongun screamed.
[Damn it!]
The Blood Emperor's eyes, which had been bounced out of Cheongun's body, shook violently.
The Blood Emperor of the world, who wouldn't even bat an eyelash if the heavens and the earth were to be created anew, looked down at his hands in bewilderment, not knowing what to do.
Stumble.
Cheongun moved his body back and trembled.
The Blood Emperor had already taken a stance and was rushing towards Cheongun.
[You baaaastard! It's my body now!]
Thump!
"Keuk"
Cheongun fell backward with a thud.
The Blood Emperor was also blocked by a blue membrane and bounced back.
[Again... is it lightning energy!]
The Blood Emperor, enraged, rushed at the fallen Cheongun again.
Thump!
He was also blocked by the blue membrane and bounced back.
The Emperor rushed at Cheongun dozens of times after that. But each time, he was blocked by the blue membrane and could not penetrate Cheongun's body.
[Kraaaaaa!]
The Blood Emperor screamed with a deafening sound. As if his anger was not appeased, he mercilessly struck the blue membrane that was wrapping around Cheongun's body.
[Hey, you son of a b*tch! You f*cking bastard! Give me back my bodyyyy!]
So much so that he forgot his dignity as the leader of the great Blood Demon Heavenly Cult, who had received the reverence of all, and even spewed out curses he hadn't used since he was thirty.
But the blue membrane only rippled and blocked all of the Blood Emperor's attacks.
"Huh?"
Cheongun was afraid of the Blood Emperor's attacks at first. But as time went on, he thought that something was strange.
It wasn't because the Blood Emperor's attacks were not working, being blocked by the blue membrane.
"Why is he using his fists?"
Cheongun muttered with a puzzled expression.
[What?]
Only then did the Blood Emperor stop his attack.
He thought it was strange too. As Cheongun said, he was using his bare hands. He should have been using the divine art using the Blood Emperor Divine Art, of course.
[Gasp! The blood energy...!]
There was too little blood energy left. There was nothing he could do right away with the faintly remaining blood energy.
So he had instinctively used his bare hands, which he hadn't used for a while.
The Blood Emperor gritted his teeth. His finely trembling eyes scanned Cheongun's body, which was standing awkwardly.
[It's because of you. While I was... bone and marrow cleansing... your body... my energy was transferred...]
"...!"
The Blood Emperor grasped the current situation at a glance.
He had circulated his energy to connect Cheongun's blood vessels, which had been ruined by the shock of the lightning. It seemed that most of the blood energy had seeped into Cheongun's body along with the lightning energy at that time.
Thanks to that, Cheongun's body was transformed into a legendary body. It became the most suitable body for learning martial arts, and a huge amount of energy settled inside his body.
Although in the Blood Emperor's eyes, it was an incomplete, half-baked body mixed with lightning energy.
Thud.
The dumbfounded Blood Emperor collapsed as if he were crumbling.
It was as if he had lost everything to Cheongun.
[I endured for hundreds of years for revenge... to end so futilely...]
The Blood Emperor stared at Cheongun with a blank gaze.
His eyes trembled, and he bowed his head deeply. He was like a death row inmate who had given up everything and was waiting for the executioner's sword.
[Is this... the end. How could such a... dog-like thing happen...]
He had endured for a long time with the sole thought of revenge.
He was so wronged that he had fought tenaciously with the grim reapers who were trying to drag him to King Yama to get revenge on the one who had framed him for all the crimes.
But... that was also the end now.
Soon he would be annihilated, and his hundreds of years of longing would end as a dream.
Lee Cheongun frowned as he glared at the collapsed Blood Emperor.
The man who had seemed so strong was now limp like a deflated pig's bladder.
His expression, which was so scary that even a vicious demon would run away in fear, had softened to the level of a slightly grumpy neighborhood uncle's face.
He had thought he was a fierce and greedy man like an asura, but it seemed that wasn't all there was to him.
In any case, it was outrageous that he had tried to forcibly take his body, but it was also clear that he would have died if it weren't for him.
A gentleman must clearly distinguish between grace and resentment.
Moreover, the opponent was now just a powerless soul who had lost his energy to him. And he couldn't enter his body.
Cheongun calmed his mind.
After becoming an orphan and living through all sorts of hardships, it wasn't that he didn't have a narrow-minded side. But he wasn't so vicious as to pretend not to know a favor.
He also had the quick-wittedness to not miss an opportunity when it came.
Cheongun, who was glaring at the Blood Emperor, said.
"I have not the slightest intention of giving you my body. But I have no intention of denying that you saved me."
[...What are you trying to say?]
The Blood Emperor glared, as if Cheongun was making fun of him. But in his current state, he couldn't scare Cheongun.
"My late father told me to repay a single grain of rice with a whole bushel."
[So? Are you going to get revenge for me? A scholar who looks like he'll fall over if you touch him?]
"If it's something I can do with my own strength, there's nothing I can't do."
[...What?]
"As you said, I haven't learned martial arts. I probably can't even beat a single gangster in Kaifeng."
That was the truth. For now.
"But your strange energy has entered my body. And something called lightning energy too."
[That's... but... that's a power that's of no use to you yet.]
The Blood Emperor's voice was different from before. He said so, but he somehow lacked confidence.
"Of course. I don't know how to use that energy, and my body is not strong enough to use that energy. Rather, if I do it wrong, my body might explode and I might die because of that energy."
[Th-that's right...]
Cheongun revealed his inner thoughts at that point.
"Won't you make a compromise with me?"
[A compromise?]
The Blood Emperor made a bewildered expression.
He had been defeated and lost his power, and now he was on the verge of annihilation.
The victor was this guy named Lee Cheongun.
But what compromise?
At that moment, Lee Cheongun said.
"I don't know martial arts. I don't know how to control the energy in my body. But you know martial arts well, and you know how to control the energy in your body."
[...]
"I have a body. But you don't have a body."
The Blood Emperor was about to get angry at those words but held it in.
The young man's words were not over yet. It seemed better to listen more before spewing out curses.
"Give me what I lack. Then I will also help you with your revenge to the best of my ability."
[So... you want me to teach you martial arts? Then you'll also help me with my revenge?]
"Isn't it a good thing for both of us?"
It might be a gamble. The Blood Emperor might regain his strength later and try to take his body.
But there are times in life when you have to take a gamble.
His enemy was strong enough not to fear the Jinyiwei, and he had nothing. The only place he could get strength was the Blood Emperor.
But the Blood Emperor sneered.
[Kekekeke, you stupid bastard with only sh*t in your head! I'm about to be annihilated soon...]
The Blood Emperor's voice, which was spewing out curses, gradually faded.
Cheongun was staring at him.
It was as if... he was saying, 'You're the stupid one, aren't you?'
The Blood Emperor's face contorted strangely.
Cheongun said to that face.
"You said you would be annihilated when the sun rises. But the sun has been up for a while now over there."
[...That can't be!]
"I don't know if you were mistaken, or if it's for some other reason. But! One thing is clear, you are not being annihilated even under the sunlight."
[This can't be, I should have disappeared for sure...]
As Cheongun said, the sun had risen.
If he couldn't occupy someone's body, it was his fate to be scattered with a handful of wind.
But... he was fine now. Although he had no strength because he had lost most of his blood energy.
[What happened?]
The Blood Emperor looked around at his faint body. He also shook his arms. Not a single part was annihilated and remained as it was.
He also discreetly touched his private parts, and they were fine. Even if they were there, there was no place to use them, nor could he use them.
[I should have been annihilated for sure... how can I be fine?]
"You occupied my body and then came out again, didn't you? Could it be that the situation changed because of that?"
The Blood Emperor stared at Cheongun.
But he soon nodded. There was no other reason he could think of other than Cheongun's words.
[Perhaps the blood energy that resides in your body and the blood energy that remains in my body are connected, so I was not annihilated.]
"Ah! That could be it."
He still didn't know the exact reason. But it didn't matter.
The important thing was that his soul was not annihilated and remained in this world.
The two looked at each other without a word. They were two forms, but they were one and the same. Although he didn't know what would happen later.
[You said you wanted martial arts?]
"That's right."
[You said you would help me with my revenge?]
"If I go back on my word, I'm not a man."
[Hmph.]
The Blood Emperor let out a self-deprecating laugh.
He wanted revenge. That was why he had lived for hundreds of years with only his soul. But since he had no body, there was no way to get revenge.
Now that he had lost all the energy of the Blood Emperor Divine Art, he couldn't even occupy another body.
But a way had appeared. It felt like he was losing out, but what if he lost a little?
If he was a guy who was as tenacious as chewing on a horse leech...
The Blood Emperor stood up from his seat.
[Alright, I'll teach you martial arts.]
"I'll do my best too. But who is the target of your revenge?"
[It's been a long time, so I'll have to find out from now on. Hundreds of years have passed, but if it's them, they'll be crouching somewhere or have formed a force.]
"Are they bad guys?"
[Well. In their eyes, I was the bad guy. The affairs of the world are relative.]
It was the Heavenly Cult that had colored the world with fear.
The Blood Emperor, the master of the Heavenly Cult, was fear itself.
At that time, there was almost no one in the martial world who did not have a grudge against him.
"But what kind of place is the Heavenly Cult?"
For a moment, the Blood Emperor flinched.
If Cheongun found out about the Heavenly Cult in detail, he might not help with the revenge.
He hadn't said it yet, but in fact, there were two more characters in front of Heavenly Cult.