How the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult Lives

Chapter 167: Ominous Moon, the Crimson Moon

Seeing the Cult Leader entering with the setting sun behind him, Yul Han stopped his training.

“Have you arrived?”

“Yes. I had something I wanted to ask.”

“Please speak.”

“Who did you bet on?”

“Pardon?”

“The bet. Who did you bet on?”

At the Cult Leader’s question, his expression filled with expectation, Yul Han smiled bitterly.

Yul Han also knew well what kind of betting had recently become popular within the Bright Cult.

At first, he had considered forbidding it, but that seemed even more ridiculous, so he had simply left it alone.

Looking at the Cult Leader who had brought up the bet, Yul Han asked with a doubtful expression.

“Senior Brother…?”

“Me? I bet on the kid from Golden Flower Manor. She looks like she can pack quite a punch.”

At the Cult Leader’s answer, the people nearby all wore confused expressions just like the Blood Sword Unit Commander.

But Yul Han was different.

“Of course, you aren’t actually thinking of her.”

“Of course not. There’s someone prettier, more devoted, and besides, I already received a promise. Your spouse must be my sister-in-law.”

At the Cult Leader’s reply, the confusion of those nearby deepened even further.

Because the one he had bet on and the one he spoke of as a spouse were different people.

Despite the confusion around him, Yul Han seemed to have understood perfectly.

“Senior Brother really is something else.”

“You didn’t know? This Senior Brother of yours is quite amazing.”

Seeing the Cult Leader shrug his shoulders exaggeratedly, Yul Han could not help but laugh.

The Cult Leader spoke to him again.

“Don’t just laugh. Answer me. So who did you bet on?”

“I didn’t place a bet.”

“Why? Worried you might be disappointed?”

For a moment, Yul Han realized who would be disappointed and why. Perhaps that was why he found it absurd and let out another small laugh.

The Cult Leader said to him,

“Stop laughing like that, brat. If you’re interested, just go for it.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Not like that? Your face clearly says ‘I’m interested.’”

“You’re seeing it wrong.”

“Wrong, my foot. I roughly know what you’re thinking, but don’t push too hard. Whether it’s others or yourself—if you push too much, something will definitely break. Take it easy. Moderation.”

Just as Yul Han had immediately understood what the Cult Leader was thinking, it felt as though the Cult Leader was peering straight into his own heart.

At those words, Yul Han forced a smile.

“Stop smiling like an idiot.”

Leaving that rebuke behind, the Cult Leader turned and walked away. Behind him, Yul Han could only smile bitterly.

To others, it might have looked like killing intent dripping from him, but strangely, those who knew him well could tell that Yul Han was actually smiling sheepishly.

Perhaps that was why the Iron Demon approached and asked,

“Have you made up your mind?”

“About what?”

“It’s pretty obvious.”

“You’re making me ask the same thing.”

At Yul Han’s complaint, the Iron Demon replied,

“As the Cult Leader said, it’s written all over your face. ‘I’m interested.’”

Even though the Iron Demon was clearly teasing him, Yul Han could not scold him.

Because he himself knew it wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Stop teasing and continue training.”

“Ah, how can a person only train? You should fall in love, date, and do those things too.”

Watching the Iron Demon continue teasing, the Profound Demon muttered,

“He’s going to get punched at this rate.”

Sure enough.

As the teasing continued, Yul Han’s expression turned cold.

“Let’s have one-on-one sparring. Starting with Iron Demon.”

The moment Iron Demon realized what he had done, he shook his head fiercely, but it was useless.

Yul Han was already charging at him.

“Kghk!”

Letting out a strange sound as he rolled across the ground, Iron Demon clutched his groin.

Looking at him, Yul Han said,

“Ah! I’m sorry. My hand slipped.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of apology on his face. Instead, he looked utterly satisfied.

Those watching shook their heads—then their eyes widened.

Because Yul Han immediately said,

“Next!”

At those words, everyone grabbed their groins.

Even Mahwa did.

Why?

Because in the Vice Cult Leader’s training, there was no distinction between men and women.

While the Vice Cult Leader’s residence was in such chaos, the Cult Leader was entering Seogak, which was already sinking into darkness as the sun fully set.

“You’ve arrived.”

Namgung Hee-yeon, who had been sitting in the courtyard, greeted the Cult Leader.

“The sunlight is blazing—what are you doing out here? The temperature may be cool, but the sunlight in the Heavenly Mountains is no different from the sun of the many kingdoms. You’ll get tanned quickly.”

Understanding that he was worried about her face getting burned, Hee-yeon smiled faintly.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Good. You should become even prettier so that Han will fall for you.”

At the Cult Leader’s words, Hee-yeon could not say anything.

“I recall my sister-in-law promising to make an effort. Are you actually doing it?”

“I-I am trying.”

“If that effort just means deciding in your mind, I’ll be disappointed. As you’ve probably heard from rumors, when I’m disappointed, I tend to get a bit rough. I might run straight to the Namgung Clan and turn the whole place upside down.”

“T-Then from tomorrow…”

“Starting today!”

The determination in the Cult Leader’s eyes was unwavering.

“Ha… yes. Starting today.”

“Good. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

As he turned away after saying that, he happened to meet the eyes of Huayoung, who had just opened the door and stepped outside.

“Ah! Since I saw you, I’ll say this. I bet on you, but if I see you interfering or anything like that, I might get very disappointed and do something drastic. I guarantee the result won’t be something you like.”

Huayoung was too flustered to say anything.

The Cult Leader glanced at her and turned to leave—but suddenly stopped and turned back again.

“That doesn’t mean you should lose the fight! After all, I bet on you. Do your best!”

Clenching his fist encouragingly, he walked away again.

Huayoung stared blankly at his departing figure.

She couldn’t understand whether he was telling her to give up or to do well.

Hee-yeon spoke to her.

“It seems the Cult Leader still doesn’t know. That your heart is directed somewhere else.”

“M-My heart… directed somewhere else?”

Huayoung’s eyes widened.

Seeing that, Hee-yeon smiled brilliantly—so dazzling that even another woman would feel dizzy looking at it.

“Surely you don’t mean to say you yourself don’t know your own heart?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“You like my brother.”

At Hee-yeon’s words, Huayoung’s large eyes grew rounder, but she could not say anything.

It wasn’t because she felt wronged.

For some reason, the words to deny it would not leave her throat.

Only then did Huayoung truly look into her own heart.

And confusion appeared in her eyes.

Hee-yeon continued,

“You’ve stayed in Seogak for more than half a month already. Did you know that during that time, you looked east—toward the Namgung Clan—more often than toward the Vice Cult Leader’s residence?”

Huayoung could not even offer an excuse.

Watching her, Hee-yeon smiled faintly.

Because Huayoung’s situation was just as tragic as her own.

Huayoung had begun a love as impossible as her own feelings for the Vice Cult Leader.

After all, the daughter of Golden Flower Manor—connected to the Bright Cult—and a man from the Namgung Clan, one of the Six Great Clans of the Orthodox Faction, could never be together.

“Ha…”

Hee-yeon’s sigh was deep.

Perhaps because her heart was dark.

Even the moon in the sky looked ominous.

The Crimson Moon had risen.

The red moon that symbolized ill omen.

The dimly lit space illuminated by the light of night pearls was filled with such a stench of rot and blood that anyone with a nose could not endure even a moment there.

In the center of that damp, sinister place, a man with disheveled hair sat cross-legged.

The clothes he wore were torn and soaked in blood, making it impossible to tell their original color.

But it was clearly a monk’s robe.

The man sat there cross-legged for a long time, as though performing something.

After some time, his body began to tremble like someone shivering from cold.

Soon, a blood-colored current began to seep from every pore of his body, as though mist were pouring out.

It was neither aura nor the clear energy seen when reaching Five Energies in Harmony or Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

The identity of that thick, sticky energy was evil energy.

The symbol of all wickedness and calamity.

The crimson evil energy wrapped around the man.

After a long time, another change occurred.

Ghostly aura began to creep up from the ground.

At first it resembled a heat haze.

But soon it erupted violently, like steam bursting from volcanic earth.

Wind blew through the space now filled with ghostly aura.

A sinister wind that felt unpleasant merely by touching it.

The wind of ghostly aura, which had begun as a gentle flutter, gradually grew stronger until it finally raged like a storm.

The violent wind began rotating in one direction and soon formed a vortex centered on the man.

That vortex of ghostly aura pulled vengeful spirits up from the ground.

The spirits of those who had died by the man’s hand were dragged into the storm.

As though ripped out of hell and forced back into the living world, their screams filled the space.

The number of spirits began in the dozens.

But as time passed, it increased rapidly.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

Ten thousand.

Then one hundred thousand.

And still the number of vengeful spirits pulled up from beneath the earth continued to grow.

That enormous mass of spirits swirled around the man at the center of the vortex.

What was astonishing was that among those swirling spirits was even the spirit of the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor.

He had already been devoured by the blood corpse driven mad by hunger.

Perhaps because he had been eaten by the very blood corpse he himself had raised, the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor’s spirit was filled with despair and rage.

Because of his meaningless end, the completion of the blood corpse had been accelerated far earlier than expected.

Thus the transformation had begun before even Zhuge Giyeon could realize it.

The reason was that the vital essence meant to be filled by devouring thousands had been filled by the Man-Sa Calamity Emperor alone.

Though the blood corpse had not truly devoured a million people, it had absorbed the essence equivalent to a million.

And deep underground, where no one was present, the blood corpse was being completed.

Boom.

A sound like something being struck by a massive hammer echoed.

The swirling ghostly aura mixed with the red current surrounding the man and merged into one.

And then…

It was slowly absorbed back into the man’s eighty-four thousand pores.

Flash.

Red eyes opened.

“KRAAAAAAAAH!”

With a monstrous scream not belonging to any human, the man began writhing in agony.

BOOM!

Another shock echoed, and rocks fell from the ceiling.

But the man seemed unaware, writhing in pain.

Then again—

BANG!

The space shook.

Crack.

A night pearl embedded in the ceiling fell, leaving a hole behind.

Through that fist-sized hole, red moonlight poured in.

Directly above the man’s head.

As the moonlight touched him, the man’s scream grew louder.

Soon he began tearing at his own flesh.

Blood burst forth, muscles exposed.

Yet his actions did not stop.

Like a snake shedding its skin, the man tore at his entire body.

Chunks of flesh ripped away.

Covered in blood and red muscle, the man’s head suddenly snapped backward.

And like a crimson beam pouring down—

the red moonlight pierced into the crown of his head.