Scholar Demon Venerable

Geureureung.

The door slid to the side with a heavy roar.

Cheongun stepped inside the door. Countless bookshelves were lined up in a long row.

On the walls, there were also long stone tables, and countless items of unknown types were piled up.

[The scale is enormous. Are all of these manuals?]

The Blood Emperor was amazed as he looked at the library, which was larger than he had thought.

There were two more libraries like this.

"I'll look around this side, so if there's a good martial art, please let me know."

[Alright. I know a little about the old ones.]

The Blood Emperor had dominated the martial world for decades. Although he couldn't teach the martial arts of the righteous faction, it wasn't difficult to pick out a strong martial art.

That night.

Cheongun's eyes widened as he faced the person who had brought him food in the spacious underground clearing.

"Your Excellency, are you coming out now?"

"What are you doing here?"

It was Xiaojian Jeong.

In the clearing, food and clothes to change into were prepared. On one side, there was a tub, and in the tub, there was water.

"For the time being, I will be attending to Your Excellency."

Cheongun also smiled as he looked at Xiaojian Jeong, who was smiling broadly.

"Did the Da Yingban send you?"

"Yes, I was chosen because of my connection with Your Excellency."

Xiaojian Jeong smiled innocently and pointed to the food.

"Your Excellency, please eat first."

Cheongun sat at the table and ate. Xiaojian Jeong was friendly, telling him to try this and that.

"Your Excellency, this dish is five-spice pork. It's made with pork and various seasonings. Chef Chil's cooking skills are so good that even His Majesty enjoys this dish."

The five-spice pork, with its dark red, thick sauce, pork, and vegetables, was tender and well-seasoned. It was a dish that perfectly suited Cheongun's taste.

"It's delicious. You should have some too."

"No. I ate before I came here."

Xiaojian Jeong refused, twisting his body.

Cheongun smirked and ate his meal.

'He's just like a woman at times like this.'

* * *

Life in the Imperial Palace Armory was simple.

Twice a day, he ate the food prepared by Xiaojian Jeong and read the manuals selected by the Blood Emperor in the library.

At first, his speed of reading and memorizing the manuals was slow.

He couldn't understand what they were saying at all. The manuals were too full of metaphorical expressions.

Moreover, each sect and force used different words.

Fortunately, the Blood Emperor had a broad knowledge of these things. Thanks to that, as his knowledge of martial arts grew, his speed of reading the manuals increased.

It would have been impossible without the Blood Emperor. The Blood Emperor looked at the manuals and explained them to Cheongun one by one.

Cheongun's understanding of martial arts improved by leaps and bounds every day.

The Blood Emperor's knowledge of martial arts was so vast that he could be called an absolute master. As that knowledge was passed on to Cheongun one by one, the real fortunate encounter might not have been the Imperial Palace Armory, but the Blood Emperor.

"I read and read, but there's no end."

[Hahaha. And what about you, who remembers all of it.]

The Blood Emperor let out a hearty laugh and made a fed-up expression.

"It's all thanks to you, Blood Emperor. It's easy to understand because you explain the manuals well and build the foundation."

[That's true. But I've never seen a person with such an outstanding mind as you.]

He had already found and memorized the ten martial arts that Feng Tianhu had requested. He had also found the manual whose whereabouts Feng Tianhu had not been able to determine, and the Blood Emperor was astonished when he saw that manual.

[Hmph, to think this was here. The Imperial Palace Armory is truly something.]

"Is it a martial art you know?"

[If you know, you know, and if you don't, you don't. In any case, think carefully about handing over this martial art.]

"Since I promised, I plan to give it, but I won't just give it."

The Blood Emperor had selected one hundred and eight martial arts manuals from the three libraries.

They were all manuals with advanced ultimate techniques written in them.

Among them, three martial arts were so profound in their incantations that they were peerless martial arts manuals that could not even be found by a master who had reached the Hwagyeong realm.

So much so that even the Blood Emperor drooled when he discovered them.

The Heavenly Mandate Divine Art of Cheon Eun-ja, who was called the Martial Saint seven hundred years ago.

The Flying Heaven Shadowless Divine Step of the number one great thief in the world three hundred years ago, the Shadowless Divine Thief.

The Nine Swords of the Universe of the Thousand Ages Sword Sovereign, who was revered as the number one sword in the world four hundred years ago.

To think that martial arts that were known to have disappeared were in the Imperial Palace Armory.

The Blood Emperor interpreted the selected martial arts, and Cheongun diligently memorized them.

What was surprising was that Cheongun would sometimes create a different form of martial art by fusing the martial arts that the Blood Emperor had interpreted.

Of course, it was still at a rudimentary stage. But every time he was asked a question about it, the Blood Emperor had to think and think again to answer. Sometimes, he even broke out in a cold sweat.

'Ugh, what kind of guy is this?'

On the morning of the fifteenth day, another eunuch brought the meal.

"Your Excellency. From today, I will be serving you instead of Xiaojian Jeong."

For a moment, Cheongun's brow twitched.

He had a strange feeling of foreboding.

'Don't tell me something happened to Xiaojian Jeong?'

But the eunuch said with a strange expression.

"It was an order from the Taijian at the request of the Da Yingban."

At those words, Cheongun's expression hardened.

'The Da Yingban requested it?'

Cheongun could vaguely guess the reason why the Da Yingban had taken away Xiaojian Jeong, with whom he was close.

'Does he not trust me?'

Well, it was a matter where everything of the Jinyiwei was at stake. He would have wanted to prepare some safety measures.

'But even so, you shouldn't have done that.'

The Blood Emperor also noticed that and said nervously.

[Just tell him what you can see.]

'I plan to do that too.'

After memorizing the martial arts that Feng Tianhu had requested, he had assessed their strengths and weaknesses with the Blood Emperor for fun.

But if Feng Tianhu was going to act like that, there was no need to tell him everything.

* * *

Eighteen days had passed since the Blood Emperor and Cheongun had entered the Imperial Palace Armory.

It was a time when he was so crazy about martial arts that he didn't know how time passed.

"Waaaaa!"

A cheer rang out, piercing the heavy darkness.

The person who had raised both arms and let out a cheer was Cheongun.

The Blood Emperor had his hands behind his back, but a slight smile was also on his face.

[You disgusting bastard. To memorize all of that.]

"Hahaha. It's all thanks to you, Blood Emperor."

[If you said you memorized one hundred and eight martial arts in half a month, and not only that, but also understood the contents, probably no one would believe you.]

The Blood Emperor was also satisfied.

Since he had achieved his first goal, he had taken one step closer to revenge.

Now it was time to set the second goal and run towards it.

"Blood Emperor, what should I do from now on?"

[From now on, let's train for half of the day and read manuals for the remaining time.]

Cheongun also agreed.

If his body could endure it, he wanted to train all day long.

In particular, he wanted to spend a lot of time on energy circulation to cultivate his internal energy.

Lately, the power of the lightning energy that was crouching in his body was gradually getting stronger.

As he continuously interpreted the advanced martial arts, the flow of his true energy was unconsciously moving in accordance with it.

Weren't most of the martial arts he had chosen the ultimate techniques of the righteous faction? Perhaps because of that, the lightning energy, which was close to righteous energy, had become even stronger.

At first, he was happy that his true energy was getting stronger quickly. He thought that if he just worked hard like this, he would be able to obtain a considerable amount of internal energy by the time he left.

But in life, there are not always good things.

* * *

That incident happened on the third day of focusing on energy circulation training.

"Keuk."

Cheongun gritted his teeth.

Pajik, pajijijik.

A blue lightning began to stir in Cheongun's body. Then, red hazes began to pop out.

As the lightning energy became stronger, the blood energy of the Blood Emperor Divine Art that was latent in Cheongun's body felt a crisis and reflexively raised its head.

It didn't just raise its head. It clashed fiercely as if to drive out the strengthened lightning energy.

The lightning energy also strongly rebelled as if it would not lose.

'Th-this...!'

Hwaaaak!

Pajijijik!

Cheongun did his best to calm the two energies.

But far from calming down, the clash of the two energies became more and more intense.

[Th-that's...!]

The Blood Emperor's eyes widened in surprise at the storm-like momentum that burst out of Cheongun's body.

But he soon had to be surprised for another reason.

Kraaaang.

The roar of a large beast rang out from somewhere.

The lightning energy that extended from Cheongun's body turned into a blue dragon and roared.

Cheongun had already created one before. But today, there were two.

[Hmph! What kind of guy is that...]

The realm that the Blood Emperor had achieved over his lifetime was the Nine-Headed Dragon.

When he drew out the nine blood dragons that contained the essence of the Blood Emperor Divine Art, there was no opponent. But Cheongun had already created two blue dragons.

As if to oppose it, this time the red blood energy turned into a blood dragon and intertwined with the blue dragon.

[D-don't tell me...?]

The Blood Emperor's eyes widened as if they would pop out at a thought that suddenly came to him.

As the blue dragon and the blood dragon intertwined, Cheongun's body trembled.

Although Cheongun had tried his best, his body was not yet strong enough to receive the two huge energies.

If his blood vessels were to burst...

Revenge and everything else would be in vain.

[Get a grip, you bastard!]

The Blood Emperor shouted.

A shout that only Cheongun could hear.

Cheongun's body trembled.

But the blue dragon and the blood dragon, regardless of what happened to their master's body, were intertwined and did not seem to be able to be untangled.

Far from being untangled, they fought fiercely to devour each other.

Kraaaang!

Kwawoooooo!

Jjijijijik!

Because of that, Cheongun's clothes turned to dust and flew away like dust.

The Blood Emperor could no longer watch.

[These trash-like mixed dragons!]

He raised his eyes and unconsciously and reflexively extended both his hands.

Hwareureureu!

The energy that extended from him seeped between the blue dragon and the blood dragon.

It was not a power that was actually revealed on the outside. But strangely, it acted on Cheongun's internal power.

The blue dragon flinched because of the hostile energy, and the blood dragon hesitated because it could not attack its original master.

The Blood Emperor used the remaining energy of the Blood Emperor Divine Art to pressure the blue dragon and the blood dragon.

The movements of the blue dragon and the blood dragon gradually became dull.

It was when about a quarter of an hour had passed.

Cheongun, who had been unresponsive as if he had lost consciousness, muttered something.

The muttering continued for a long time.

The Blood Emperor's eyes, which were staring at Cheongun, trembled finely.

[Th-that incantation is...]

He felt a sense of futility when he realized what Cheongun was muttering.

Among the martial arts selected from the Imperial Palace Armory, there were only three that could satisfy the Blood Emperor's greed.

One of them was the Heavenly Mandate Divine Art.

What Cheongun was muttering now was the core of the most difficult incantation of the Heavenly Mandate Divine Art.

Even he himself had read it several times and still had not fully understood it.

Cheongun was muttering that difficult passage as if he were reciting the Thousand Character Classic.

At that moment, a surprising thing happened.

As the muttering grew longer, the blue dragon and the blood dragon began to seep into Cheongun's body.

At the same time, a brilliant light emanated from Cheongun's body.

The Blood Emperor realized the identity of that phenomenon and swallowed his saliva.

Fusion!

The two energies, which were like polar opposites, were recognizing each other and achieving harmony.

Then what would happen?

The Blood Emperor also did not know the result.

The important thing was that it was definitely not a bad thing.

[F*ck...]

Far from being bad, it was a fortunate encounter among fortunate encounters, so much so that a curse came out of the Blood Emperor's mouth automatically.

The Blood Emperor shook his head and watched Cheongun.

'Is he really going to become a monster at this rate?'

(End of Chapter)